secured in the peaceable possession of what in the be-
ginning was his own.
In deciding upon the validity of claims, the com- missioners and courts were to be governed by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the laws of nations, the laws, usages, and customs of the government from which the claim is derived, the principles of equity, and the decisions of the supreme court of the United States so far as applicable. A. patent should issue to claimants for all claims finally confirmed ; those finally rejected should be considered as part of the public domain of the United States. Land granted by the Mexican authorities for the establishment of a town in existence on the 7th day of July, 1846, and town, farm, or pasture lots held under a grant from a cor- poration to which lands were granted for town pur- poses, did not come under the jurisdiction of these commissioners ; and the fact of the existence on the above mentioned day of any town or city being duly proved was prima facie evidence, either of a grant to the corporate authorities or to the individual, under which holders might claim. It was the duty of the commissioners to ascertain and report to the secretary of the interior the tenure by which the mission lands were held, and those held by tame Indians, agricul- turalists, rancheros, and pueblos.
It was hoped that when California became a state the uncertainty in regard to land titles, which exer- cised so fatal an influence on agfriculture and settle- ment, would be quickly terminated ; but it was about a year after congress had created a commission, whose duration, as I have said, was limited to three years, that the commissioners presented themselves in Cal- ifornia.
Many of those who emigrated to California were informed, and undoubtedly believed, that the vast territory ceded by Mexico, and whose beauty and fertility had been so extolled, was at the time of its cession the public property of Mexico, and
