The best of pastures for the domesticated animals also abound in the mountain valleys and hollows, sufficient to maintain them by the million; and the fig, olive, grape, almond, date-palm, and quince thrive quicker, easier, and yield prompter and more sweet and abundant than in any other part of North America. In superficially glancing at these resources, the mind is irresistibly drawn to the conclusion that, on these now scarcely populated but accessible sea lines, must before many years rise, not only one mighty centre of stirring commerce, but many other populous marts and cities of active traffic. The land is empty of men, but other lands are not far away where men and women swarm, and crowd, and hunger, and starve by the million: their babes are without food and their old age is beggary, famine, and hungry want; the very waters are the habitations and birthplaces of millions of men whom earth rejects of sustenance and loathes to serve them. Such are the strange aspects of countries 60 days' distance from each other. But henceforth man shall move as far in one lunation as he did in twenty lunations of the past, and human hearts everywhere be quickened into more cheerful life, there being abundance and to spare in all these wondrous lands. The following outline in round figures will serve as a guide to a better understanding of the status of the States and Territories which are served with commerce from the shipping points of the Gulf of California, in the year 1867: That is to say, in the foregoing Mexican confines there are, say, 680,000 square miles, with a population of not less than 1,670,000 souls. In the confines of the United States domain, there are, say, 332,000 square miles, with a population of not less than 60,000 souls. The present export values of the mineral and other products of all this region may be set down as within $20,000,000, and the values of the imports at the estimate of $15,000,000. If at entire peace from savage hordes and from civil wars, in one year's time these values would undoubtedly double, and in 10 years after astonish the world by their development. THE LOWER CALIFORNIA COMPANY. THE Lower California Company is organized upon the basis of a grant made by the Republican Government of Mexico, the terms of which comprehend all that portion of the peninsula of Lower California embraced within the parallels of 24° 20′ and 31° north latitude, and lying between the Gulf of California and the Pacific Ocean. The grant, likewise, comprehends both coasts of the peninsula; comprising altogether, the vast area of 46,800 square miles. Within this area only scanty properties ever have been settled by the natives; while the few and limited grants previously made within it, by the Mexican Government, have almost, without exception, been vacated for non-fulfilment, by a subsequent decree of March 14, 1861. This grant was originally made to certain wealthy and influential Americau citizens in Upper California, through Jacob P. Leese, of San Francisco; but those parties having failed to fulfil its conditions within the period prescribed to them, the Mexican Government, by decree of August 4, 1866, under the hand of its President, Benito Juarez, permitted the said grant to be transferred to the Lower California Company. This transfer was duly made at the Mexican legation in Washington, on the 4th May, 1866, and ratified by President Juarez in the following August. In evidence thereof, a duly-authenticated copy of said grant, and memoranda of such transfer and conveyance, certified by the Mexican minister, have been filed in the office of the Secretary of State of the United States, in order that the American Government may have official notice thereof; and to the end that, should the present republican and acknowledged Government of Mexico be supplanted by another, and possibly a hostile government, the Company may rightfully claim of the Government of the United States that it should protect this legitimately acquired grant to its American proprietors, and make its recognition by such new government a "condition precedent" to the official recognition of said new government, by the Government of the United States. The overthrow of the Archduke Maximilian, however, has disposed finally of any apprehensions which may temporarily have existed as to the stability and safety of the grant; and the act of the Government of Mexico, which made the grant (before the arrival of said archduke in Mexico), and which now reaffirms it, since he and his pretensions have been disposed of, renders the title a perfect and complete finality. By reference to the grant, a copy of which accompanies this circular, it will be seen that it confers upon the Company full powers of municipal administration, subject only to the general laws of Mexico. It likewise grants immediate citizenship to the Company's colonists, exemption to those colonists from military services, remission of taxes upon wearing-apparel, provisions, mining-tools, and other of their imports-privileges which have never been equalled for liberality, in any grant made by a government to foreign citizens, in the history of the world. Such was the opinion of the Hon. Caleb Cushing, whom the Company legally consulted at the time of their acquisition of the grant; while the validity of the grant stands further certified to, by Hon. Robert J. Walker, who also was professionally consulted in the premises. * Upon the basis of this vast property, with its franchises and its privileges, the Company, through its trustees, applied for last winter, and obtained, a charter from the State of New York, which vests in the trustees of the Company the power "Of holding, leasing, and improving lands in Lower California, and of obtaining therefrom all minerals and other valuable substances, whether by working or mining, or disposing of privileges to work or mine and to dispose of the proceeds of all such lands, mines, and works as it may deem proper. The said Company shall also have power to establish agencies for the purpose of procuring and forwarding to Lower California emigrants and other persons, and of owning and managing such ships and vessels as it may deem necessary for that purpose; and to own and carry on such transportation, on inland waters, as may be necessary for its purposes in Lower California; or for the purpose of encouraging regular means of communication between any part of the United States and any part of Lower California." * Under this charter, which does not prescribe any limit as to capital, the Company fixed its capital stock at $25,000,000 (to be issued in shares of $100 each), and organized on the 9th July, 1867, by electing Wm. G. Fargo, president; Hon. John A. Logan, vice-president; Wm. R. Travers, treasurer; and George Wilkes, Secretary. It likewise formed the following board of directors: C. K. Garrison, August Belmont, Leonard W. Jerome, General B. F. Butler, Wm. R. Travers, George Wilkes, Wm. G. Fargo, David Crawford, Hon. John A. Griswold, General John A. Logan, and Richard Schell. General Logan was chosen by the board to be the "governor of the Company and superintendent of colonization," which election, and his acceptance of the same, completed the organization of the Company. In addition to the above-named officers of the Company, the other members and holders of original interests in the grant rank among our wealthiest and most influential citizens, to wit: Hon. Caleb Cushing, Hon. John A. Griswold, John R. Garland, S. L. M. Barlow, Edwards S. Sanford, John Anderson, Ben. Holladay, Francis Morris, H. C. Stimson, George A. Osgood, John B. Davidson, etc., etc., etc. It is the intention of the Company, in whose behalf extensive and detailed surveys have been and are being made of the territory covered by the grant, to commence its purposes of colonization some time in December next, at which time the headquarters of its superintendency in Lower California will be made known, and the surveys will be sufficiently defined for the distribution of land and mining interests. The climate of the peninsula of Lower California, is described by all travellers as being unsurpassed for its delicious softness, without being subject to any extremities of temperature. Its products, according to the official data of 1857, are wine, hides, salt, cheese, sugar, dried meats, figs, raisins, dates, oranges, salted fish, Brazil-wood, gold, silver, and copper ores, gold and silver, in marks and ounces, pearls, and mother of pearl, etc.; while portions of its lands have recently been found peculiarly adapted to the cultivation of tobacco, opium, and cotton. It is believed that, upon proper development, the mines of Lower California will not be found inferior to those of any other portions of the continent, while its copper and salt deposits are known to be among the richest in the world. Upon some of its islands the new and valuable kind of iron, which is found in grains, and which is known to commerce as the titaniferous iron ore, has been discovered in abundance. This Its fisheries are unequalled in any portion of the Northwest coast. article of its commerce ranges from whales and seals to the pearl oyster; and in relation to the latter, the eastern, or gulf, coast of the peninsula has always been the great pearl-fishery of past and present history. The prospect of a new mode of conducting this fishery by steam, instead of by native divers as heretofore, is likely to give it very great importance, and to prove highly remunerative, perhaps, in the article of mother of pearl alone, which has of late years become one of the most highly-prized elements of elegant ornament and household furniture. Projects are already formed to utilize the other fisheries of the peninsula, by the means of Chinese labor, and with the salt in such profusion as it is found in several of the islands, there is but little doubt the fisheries of Lower California will compete with any other known fisheries on favorable terms. The great advantages of most of those productions and opportunities is, that they lie directly in the new high-road of commerce; while the peninsula itself affords the short cut by which the southern interoceanic railway can reach the Pacific coast, and take up the China and the San Francisco trade. Finally, the Company have determined to offer half of their stock for sale at 15 per cent. on the par value, payable, two and a half per cent. in cash on the date of subscription; two and a half per cent. on the 10th of October following; five per cent. on the 10th of February, 1868, and the remaining five. on the 10th of August, 1868. It is proper to state in this connection, that there are negotiations now going on with the Mexican Government, which are likely to vastly enlarge the domain of the Company, and greatly increase the value of its property. The present territory, however, taken in connection with its commanding position on the Northwest coast, is large enough to yield, under judicious management, ample returns on any investments that may be made, on the terms offered by the Company. The books of the Company will be opened and subscriptions received, at the office of the Company, No. 18 William Street, in the city of New York, on the 30th July, inst. OFFICE LOWER CALIFORNIA COMPANY, NEW YORK, July 20, 1867. GEO. WILKES, Secretary. GRANT. SALTILLO, March 30, 1864. The Citizen José M. Iglesias, Minister of Fomento of the Mexican Republic, with the previous express direction of the citizen, the Constitutional President of the same, and Jacob P. Leese, a citizen of the United States of America, in the name of the partners who compose the Company of Colonization of Lower California, have agreed to the following clauses for the colonization of the vacant lands of the peninsula, from 31 degrees of latitude north in the direction of the south to 24 degrees and 20 minutes of latitude: 1st. The "empresarios" (managers) will colonize the respective vacant lands of that tract, respecting the property previously acquired by Mexican citizens by birth, whether they have or not the confirmation for their titles, the real corporeal occupation or quasi occupation of the lands which they may claim being sufficient to give them preference. This being understood with regard to the property granted before the Government complied with this petition, but not so with the occupations that might be made afterward, with fraud to the prejudice of the same. 2d. The lands comprehended between the twenty-seventh degree and the thirty-first of latitude are granted in all their extent for the claimed colony, reserving therein only onefourth part for Mexican citizens by birth who might solicit the property thereof. These will also have one-fourth part in the lots in all and each of the new towns which might be founded by the colonists. 3d. All the minerals, of whatsoever class, that may be found in the granted vacant lands, will be worked by the colonists in accordance with the provisions of the ordinances and laws in force in the Republic in reference to mining operations. 4th. In relation to the fishery of whales and seals in all the extent of the coast of the peninsula, the colonists will subject themselves likewise to the provisions of the respective laws in the matter. 5th. Every "sitio de ganado mayor" (square league) that shall be occupied by the Company of Colonization will be paid for at the rate of one-third part less than the price of the tariff, as a mean term among the bad, the good, and the best. The fourth part that may correspond to the Mexican citizens by birth, will be paid for by them on their own account. 6th. Of each one of the towns that may be in the progress of being founded, there will be made a plan on account of the "empresarios," of which a copy will be forwarded to the office of the Minister of Fomento, and another to the Government of the Territory of Lower California, for the cognizance thereof. 7th. Within the term of five years, reckoned from the day of the approval of this project of colonization, the "empresarios" will introduce in the Territory two hundred colonizing families at least. 8th. The salt-works of the "Ojo de Liebre," and "San Quintin," which at present are rented by the Government, when the existing contract shall have expired will be rented to said colony for the term of twenty years, with the condition that there will be paid to Government twenty reales per ton of salt that shall be exported from the salt-works aforesaid. 9th. The colonists shall enjoy liberty of religious worship, and the rights and guaranties which the political Constitution of the Republic of 1857 has declared as the rights of man. 10th. The colonists shall be independent in their municipal administration, in virtue of which they will be empowered to freely frame all the institutions they may consider proper for the development of their intelligence, and of their morals and good manners; to make regulations for the government of their respective municipalities, provided they do not conflict with the Constitution and general laws of the Republic; to freely elect their authorities; establish municipal taxes, and promote and execute all the material improvements proper to the welfare of the colonies, simply giving information of all to the Political Chief of the Territory, and subjecting themselves to the obedience of the authority thereof, in all those things wherein it might be necessary to apply thereto, and ask relief for any of the parties. 11th. As soon as the colonists shall be established in any part of the Territory, they will be considered as Mexican citizens, with the same rights and obligations as Mexican citizens by birth, and only with the temporary exemptions which are granted to them to insure the foundation of the colonies. 12th. All the effects of wearing-apparel; all classes of iron tools that might be introduced for the exclusive use of the colonies, as well as all the provisions and things necessary to preserve life, shall be free from duties for the term of ten years. 13th. For an equal period of time shall the colonists be exempt from paying for all classes of imposts and taxes, except the municipal contributions which they themselves may establish. 14th. The colonists are exempt for five years from service in the national army; but af ter that time, they will render their services therein, like all the other Mexican citizens, with entire subjection to the provisions of the recruiting laws. The said colonists will be under the obligation of serving in the National Guard of each one of the towns they may establish, with the view of keeping order in them. 15th. Twenty years after the foundations of the colonies, the lands which are granted to the "empresarios" must be divided in such a manner that each colonist will not possess more than three square leagues. 16th. The "empresario" will advance the sum of one hundred thousand dollars on account of the price of the lands they are to colonize, delivering, at the term of one hundred and twenty days after signing this agreement, the said sum of Mexican gold in San Francisco, California, to the Mexican consul at that port, or to the person whom the Supreme Government may opportunely designate. 17th. If the "empresarios" should not fulfil some or any of the conditions stipulated in the time and form prescribed, the concession shall be null and void, and of no effect; even though they had delivered the sum advanced which is spoken of in the preceding article, in which case they will be indemnified with five hundred square leagues (sitios de ganado mayor) between the twenty-seventh and thirty-first degrees of latitude, with the particular understanding that at the term of twenty years from the nullification of this contract, none of the "empresarios" will be able to hold more than three leagues in property, each of them being authorized to sell, within this term of twenty years, all the lands that may properly appertain to them, but with the condition of not giving more than three "sitios de ganado mayor" to one sole person. 18th. Within four months from the signing of this agreement, the representative of the Colonizing Company of Lower California shall present himself to ratify and accept, in the name of said Company, all and each one of the clauses contained in the said agreement, in order that from that time it may be obligatory on the part of the Company, in the name of which Mr. Leese has made the said agreement. In due witness whereof, we sign the present agreement, in duplicate, at the city of Saltillo, the capital of the State of Coahuila, on the thirtieth day of the month, one thousand eight hundred and sixty-four. (Signed) JOSÉ M. IGLESIAS. |