Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851Various
General
Harper's New Monthly Magazine, Vol III, No 13, 1851
Various
American literature -- Periodicals; Civilization -- Periodicals; Culture -- Periodicals
The Governor of Texas has issued an order for the arrest of the members
of the Boundary Commission who took part in the recent summary
executions of the desperadoes at Socorro. They are probably beyond the
jurisdiction of Texas. Severe charges are in circulation against the
officers at the head of the Commission; public opinion will, however,
remain undecided until both sides are heard.--The population of New
Mexico, according to the recent census, is 61,574, of whom 850 are
Americans. Of the Mexican population above the age of twenty, only one
in 103 is able to read.--A treaty has been concluded with the Apache
Chief Chacon, who binds himself to keep the peace, under penalty of
forfeiting his life.--An attempt is to be made to diminish the enormous
expense of the military occupation of New Mexico. Colonel Sumner, the
new commander, will take out with him seed, grains, stock, and farming
utensils, and every effort will be made to develop the agricultural
resources of the Territory. The head-quarters of the army will probably
be removed from Santa Fé to Los Vegos.
From California the most striking feature of intelligence is the
unexampled frequency of extra-judicial punishment for crime. The
newspapers are filled with accounts of summary executions, not only for
murder but for robbery and theft. Under the peculiar state of things
occasioned by the great temptations to crime, and the utter want of all
the ordinary apparatus of justice, during the earlier periods of the
settlement of California, this was unavoidable. But instances of this
sort, instead of becoming more unfrequent, seem to be rapidly
increasing. A bill has passed the Legislature, and become a law,
inflicting the punishment of death, at the discretion of the jury, upon
the crime of grand larceny. This measure was insisted upon by the mining
counties on the ground that, owing to the unexampled influx of
desperadoes and criminals from all parts of the world, thefts and
robberies had become so frequent, while prisons and places of detention
were so few, that the only possible punishment was death; and the people
had become so exasperated that the punishment would and must be
inflicted, either by or against the law. The law imposing a tax upon
foreign miners has been repealed, having been found to work most
disastrously. It drove out of the country many thousands of the most
industrious miners, especially Mexicans and Chilians, whose labors the
State could ill spare. Indian hostilities have nearly ceased. A number
of the tribes have signified a willingness to accept of fixed
localities, and to enter into a treaty. The Legislature having granted
to the Governor authority to call out 500 men to repress Indian
hostilities in the Mariposa region, he made a tour of inspection, and
came to the conclusion that the force was unnecessary. The population of
the State is estimated at 314,000, of whom about 100,000 are supposed to
be engaged in mining; and the whole amount of gold produced in the
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