CONCLUSION. 



395 



these grants are mostly perfect titles, or have unquestionably the 

 same equity as those that are perfect. 1 



All the grants of land in California, except pueblo or village lots 

 and some grants north of the bay of San Francisco, subsequent to 

 the independence of Mexico, and after the establishment of that 

 government in California, were made by the different political gov- 

 ernors. These personages possessed the exclusive faculty of mak- 

 ing grants of eleven leagues or sitios to individuals , which were 

 valid when sanctioned by the Territorial Deputation ; but coloniza- 

 tion grants to Empresarios or contractors, required the sanction of 

 the Supreme National Authorities. 



The supposition, usually entertained, that the mission lands were ' 

 grants held as the actual fee-simple property of the church, or of 

 the mission establishments as corporations, is entirely erroneous. 

 All the missions in Upper California, established under the direc- 

 tion of the Spanish Viceroyal Government and partly at its ex- 

 pense, never had any other right than that of occupation and use, 

 the whole property being either resumable or otherwise disposable, 

 at the will of the crown or its representatives. The right of the 

 Supreme Powers to remodel these establishments at pleasure, and 

 convert them into towns and villages, subject to the known policy 

 and law which governed settlements of that kind, was a funda- 

 mental principle controling them from the beginning. 



After the secularization of the missions the principal part of the 

 church lands were cut off by private grants. Some of them still 

 retain a portion of their original territory, but others have been con- 

 verted either into villages and subsequently granted in the usual 

 form in lots to individuals and heads of families, or have become 

 private property. A few are either absolutely at our government's 

 disposal now, or, being rented at present for a term of years, will 

 become so when the tenant's contracts expire. 



The gold of California is a modern disclosure, though, probably, 

 it is not altogether a modern discovery. There are documents in 

 existence which show that it was known to the Mexican govern- 

 ment ; and, as far back as 1790, a certain Captain Shelvocke 

 obtained in one of the ports, a black mould which appeared to be 

 mingled with golden dust. Specimens of California gold were 

 exhibited privately by the authorities in the city of Mexico not long 

 before the late war; and a memoir prepared by the congressional 

 representative, imparts the fact that it had been taken in consider- 



1 Report upon the land titles of California by W. Carey Jones — Washington 1850. 



