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    September 4,1852. THE .STAB OF FEEEDOM. ...

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    United Statks. • Our American Correspond...

    two o ' clock , amidst the wild shrieks of the passengers , the steamer settled and sank . The Propeller had kept in the wake of the Atlantic , and those on board her did all in their power to preserve the lives of the hundreds of human beings who were now seen struggling in the water . The fog was a sad hindrance to their efforts , but abave 150 were rescued . It was stated that about 200 persons composed chiefly of poor emigrants , had perished . Among the list of missingf is the name of Mrs . Cornwall , sister of Elihu Burritt .

    The St . John ' s , . New Brunswick , papers state that the Bay of Fffiidy had been completely cleared of American fishermen . A rumour was current at Halifax that Her Majesty ' s steamer Devastation had taken four prizes iuto Charlotte-town .

    INDIA . Resi gnation of Sir Colin Campbell—The War in Burmali—Supposed Loss of the Steamer Zenobia . We have intelligence from India to the 23 rd of July . Considerable excitement has heen occasioned in the military circles of the North-West by Sir Colin Campbell ' s resignation of the Peshawur command , an event attributed to that General ' s impatience of the interference of the Board of Administration in the military affairs of the frontier . Our latest news from Rangoon extend to the 22 nd of June .

    The health of our troops in Burmah continues excellent . The rains of Eangoon have not been as yet disagreeably heavy , and the temperature appears lower for the time of year than at most stations of India . We have mentioned that the Proserpine steamer had surveyed the Irrawaddy to within a few miles of Prome . She still remains there , and has done excellent service in intercepting and sending down to Rangoon upwards of 100 yery large boats laden with rice , intended for the use of the Burmese army now assembling at Prome , and which it appears depended principally on the lower country for its commissariat supplies . The Proserpine has ascended thus far without meeting an enemy , though she had been fired into occasionally

    by bauds of robbers , -who are said to range uninterruptedly through the country below Prome , which the Burmese appear to have entirely abandoned . The Phlegethon and ^ Malum addy have been throughly repaired , and sent up to join the Proserpine , with orders to reconnoitre as far up the river as they can with safety . These light steamers give us the complete command of the lower country . The Nemesis has been ordered from China to join them , and the number might be further increased to any extent desired from the Ganges and the Indus steam flotillas . The cost of the Burmese expedition up to the 1 st of July lias been at least £ 500 , 000 .

    Serious apprehensions are entertained in reference to the steamer Zenobia , which left Moulmein for Madras on the 14 th of June , and has never since been heard of ; as no tempest has since then swept the bay , nor any weather occurred of which a fine new steamer need have been afraid , it is feared she may have been burned at sea .

    • ^ > . ¦ AUSTRALIA AND ITS WEALTH . ( Abridged from the British Quarterly Review . ) ( Continued from last Saturday ' s Star of Freedom . ) Hitherto we have surveyed only the surface of this mighty continent , but Australia has treasures also hidden deep in the earth . It was not until 1843 that the mineral wealth of New South Wales was discovered . As in the case of the gold mines , so hi respect to the earlier found copper , no one suspected their existence , except a German geologist , named Menge , who

    persisted that the hills of South Australia were metalliferous , but whose opinion was treated , not only with incredulity , but with ridicule . Accident at length verified the geologist ' s assertion . In 1 S 42 , the youngest son of Captain Bagot , whilst gathering wild flowers , discovered some pieces of grey slate , strongly tinged with the green ^ carbonate of copper , and attracted probably by the brilliancy of its colour , the boy brough t one of the pieces home . Soon after , Mr . Dutton , a neighbouring resident and sheep-owner , having ascended a little hill , to obtain a view of one of his distant flocks , was struck with the

    beauty of what seemed to be a patch of bright green moss just at his horse ' s feet . He dismounted , but on closer view he found that it was copper ore . Being on intimate terms with Capt . Bagot , Mr . Dutton communicated his discovery , and then found that his friend ' s son , on a spot hard by had found a similar piece of ore . Mr . Dutton—from whose interesting work , " South Australia and its Mines , " we have taken the foregoing account—together with his friend , now applied to government for the purchase of the land-no reserves being made in South Australia with regard to minerals—and at the fixed price of £ 1 per acre they purchased eighty within which

    the precious ore was found . Some Cornish miners , who had fortunatel y just arrived , were hired , and the Kapunda mine opened , and its produce , during only a part of the first year , amounted to 252 j- tons of fine copper , which were sold in England for 6 , 225 / . " But other " out-croppings , " though less extensive than on the original land , were soon after discovered hard by . A keen competition was therefore commenced , and a hundred acres put up to auction by government werepurchased after a sharp contest on the part of Captain Bagot and our author , at- the large price of 2 , 2102 , In his table of the aver age produce of the various copper mines in South America , and

    ^ England and Ireland , Mr . Dutton proves that those of South Australia hold the highest place . Since the date of Mr . Button ' s work ( 1846 ) , mining operations have been widely extended , ' the Burra-Burra mines now taking the lead ; and the importance of this new branch of commerce may be estimatedwhen we find in the report of the Colonial Land and Emigration Commissioners , that while from the vicinity of the above mentioned mines , 8 , 676 cwt . of copper was shipped in 1849 ; in ! 850 , the shipments rose to 44 , 594 . In addition to this , a small quantity of lead was also sent .

    Jjllt * . 7 nf OT / ici-Jvi « v o-n / 1 imnni > fi > TiJ- n .-i J-Ttnrm nf o + GTYl « Vllf o lWlirn'fc ! " > ft . But interesting and important as these statements might be , the gold discovery has thrown them wholly into the back ground—indeed , with some people , the whole Australian continent seems to be considered as worthy of notice only on account of the precious metal which is drained from her rivers , or dug from her mines . Although the district in which gold was first wand has been long occupied by sheep stations or by small settjevs , and the gold-bearing earth has been actually tilled , and tue gold-hearing stream used for domestic purposes , still the presence of gold was not discovered until about fifteem months

    luce - ? hG probability that some portion of the regions of New u ) uti WaleS weve auriferous was , however , pointed out by the ivev . Mr Clark , a resident , as early as 1841 , and at the same time Sir Eoderic Murchison , in Europe , was led to the same conclusion , from a comparison of the gold-bearing rocks of the ural Mountains , which he had explored with those of the

    United Statks. • Our American Correspond...

    Eastern Cordillera of Australia . In 1844—we quote from his own note , appended to Col . Mundy ' s work- " he published , in thel 4 th volume of the Journal of the Royal Geographical ' Sooociety , a comparison between the two mountain ranges , and in 1846 recommended the Cornish miners who wanted employment , to emigrate to New South Wales , and there search for gold . ^ in 1848 , having received specimens of gold from two colonists he wrote to Earl Grey , referring to the former comparison with the Ural mountains , but the minister declined to in-Srw - VffoH " « c ? iden t S l ° V * 8 of ^ gohlen gravel m California » Sir Kodenc publicly brooched on various occasions , the subject of the distribution of gold over the surface of the lobe

    g ; his last and concluding views being put forth in the article , "foiberia and California" in the Quarterly Review September , 1850 . These views , however , as we have seen , ' attracted no notice , until , in the early part of last year , Mr Hargreaves , a gentleman who had spent nearly two years in California , returned to New South Wales , and struck by the similarity of its geological formation and external characteristics he aeteramied carefully to examine into it . After riding about three hundred miles , so as to intersect the country at numerous points ^ and spending two or three months in the prosecution of his object , he discovered gold , and established a company of working-miners , at a point of the Summer-hill Creek / ' a spot now known far and wide by its appropriate name—Ohir

    p . -The general character and appearance of the gold district is well described by Mr . Shilling in his lecture , and from it the following extract is taken : — 11 The Australian eordillera run in a line with the coast and at an average distance of less than one hundred miles ' from the snore . Gold has been found on both sides of those Cordilleras and chiefly in the smaller streams and bends of the rivers but the basin of the Murray may be said to form the Australian gold field The very outline of these mils and mountains , almost without exception , rounded , would make it probable that their surface irregularities have been caused

    by detritus , so as to give this peculiar characteristic to the scenery . Imagine a number of enormous hay-cocks , from oOO to 1 , 500 feet high , packed as close together as impenetrable substances of such a shape could be crammed , their steep slopes , covered to the summit with the thin evergreen—or , rather , everbrown , bush of Australia , and you will have a very fair idea of the general appearance of the gold districts . The locality named Ophir hy Mr . Hargreaves , is a deep ravine , through which , flows the Summer-hill Creek from the lofty Canollus , between 4 , 000 and 5 , 000 feet high , on one side it is bounded by rocks of quartz and schist , in some places almost perpendicular . "

    ^ Colonel Mundy , whose sketches give additional interest to his work , has afforded us a very picturesque view of Summerhill Creek , and also of the Ophir Mines . The next spot where gold was discovered was on the Turon Biver , from whence it was stated that small portions had been taken years before ; indeed , Colonel Mundy tells us so far back as 1823 , a convict of an ironed gang , working on the roads near Bathurst , was flogged for having in his possession a lump of rough gold , which the officer naturally enough imagined must have been the product of watches or trinklets stolen and melted down , Sofala is the name given to the station ; it is situated in the valley that forms the bed of that Pactolus of Australia , the Toron . These "diggings" Colonel Mundy also visited .

    ^ " As we topped the last of a series of small hills , which I thought interminable , my companion suddenly said , ' Stop , and listsn , ' I pulled up my horse , and heard , as I imagined , the rushing ^ of a mighty cataract . 'It is the cradles , ' said he . And so it was—the grating of the gravel or rubble , on the metal sifter of five hundred rockers ! I slndl not easily forget the impression made on me by this singular acoustic effect . Looking down into that wild mountain glen , it was almost incredible that this ceaseless crash could be produced by human

    beings , not one of whom was visible . Presently , as we descended upon the creek , tents , huts , and every other kind of temporary tabernacle were descried dotting the slopes and leveh . The camps are never entirely deserted , for one of every company remains at the hut , cooking , washing , and keeping guard . in the absence of his mates . I saw no women , except a few ' gins' ( native blacks ) , at the mines—this is one of the most odious peculiarities of the gold-digging population . "—Our Antipodes , vol . ill . p . 373 . Near the Wallabi Bocks , the scene is very beautiful .

    " As I despaired of preserving the shadow of an impression of it hy effect of pencil , so do I feel my pen equally powerless ; for a first-rate colourist , who had passed a life in the close study of nature , could have produced but a faint image of the swelling sea of mountain-forest lying before and below us ; hill beyond hill , as far as sight could range—and the devious course of the invisible Turon , distinctly traced by a motionless wreath of smoke from the bivouacs , sleeping on the mists of the river , and

    carrying the eye of the spectator along until it rested on the face of the Wallabi rocks , just illumined by . the morning sun , which threw over it a veil of golden gauze . The landscape was truly lovely—an epithet rarely to be applied to gold-mining regions . "—vol . iii . p . 384 . But amid the new excitement and general good fortune , at that early period—August , 1851 , of the gold diggers , Colonel Mundy bears testimony to the injurious influence of this dream . He found no merriment among them—no cheerfulness :

    " I found it no easy task to get into conversation with them , " he says . " Some appeared sullen from disappointment ; few communicative on the subject of their gains , and all imbued with the spirit of independence and equality natural in a community where all were living and labouring on the same terms . The miners , I observed , looked haggard and weatherworn about the face ; but I fancy this jaded look proceeded

    rather from intence mental excitement than from bodily hardship . More than one started when 1 asked them if they did not dream of gold at night , and admitted , with apparent shame , that not only did gold form the main subject of many a troubled night-mare , ' but that , in spite of excessive fatigue , involuntary thoughts on the same theme robbed them of the rest absolutely necessary to recruit their strength for the morrow ' s labour . " - —

    vol . in . p . 3 q 2 . At the time when Colonel Mundy left , the gold mines m Victoria had not been discovered . Mr . Shilling only describes them from report ; but from his statement it appears that these mines are richer than the earlier found ones . Buningong was the first discovered : it is about forty mile ; , iVom Geelong , and is on the edge of an open forest , in the midst of a beautiful agriand there

    cultural country . Mount Alexander is moiv north , , as is the case in New South Wales , it seems that the richest yield of gold is obtained from a stratum of blue clay , found at a depth of from two to nine feet . It is difficult , perhaps impossible , accurately to ascertain the amount of gold obtained from the Australian mines . The account up to December last , according to the report of the Colonial Lan d and Emigration Commissioners , gives 464 , 6682 . 15 s . as the value , of the gold

    United Statks. • Our American Correspond...

    shipped from Sydney to England , while the rough estimate of gold raised in Victoria between August 1 st and December 6 th , 1851 , is thus given : — In banks in Melbourne 90 , 000 ozs . Shipped 31 , 734 In bank in Geelong 30 , 000 On the ground , or in merchants' and private hands 60 , 000 Total 211 , 734 ozs . This at SI . per oz . is , 635 , 202 ? .

    When we contemplate statements like the foregoing , we are less disposed to be astonished at , however we may lament , the extravagant dreams which these unexpected gold discoveries have led so many to indulge in . Above a million of money value , set from Australia in less than half a year , and all in the form of gold—bright , precious gold . No wonder that the eager , the excitable , all those who would " make haste to be rich , " should be ready to bid farewell to friends and country , and set off for this new El Dorado . But be it remembered that the Australian wool trade alone , amid the dearth of labourers , yielded in 1850 , a result of a million and a half , and that the wool and tallow together , amounted to more than two millions !

    As to the profits of gold-digging to the miners themselves , this seems to be a question involved in great difficulties . Col . Mundy , who visited them during the first excitement , and who takes a more favourable view than Mr . Shilling , bears testimony to the exaggerated stories even then current . The many marvellous tales of the earnings of the miners which found their way into the papers , were , lie remarks , unfounded ; and their effect was to unsettle the minds of credulous hearers and readers , who , believing that Aladdin ' s lamp was only waiting for them to ruh it , gave up steady employment for gold hunting , and thereby too often abandoned solid substance for a vain shadow .

    It is impossible to form a correct idea of the earnings at Ophir " Ten shillings a day was pretty generally named as the average , " but this ; he considers too low . But what is £ 3 per week as the remuneration for the wear and tear , bodily and mental , of gold digging ? That great bodily labour is demanded—great , we mean , to the middle and higher classes , and those unaccustomed to active employment , we have the testimony of Mr . Shilling , a practical man , who expressly states , that although " nothing perhaps to navvies , and strong men , it is insurmountable by the sedentary and weak , " His estimate of the average remuneration is lower than Colonel Mundy ' s , although « we can only surmise their gains from the accounts of the diggers themselves

    . Now , there have been numerous failures at all the diggings—even at Mount Alexander . The average earnings of the first 4 . 00 at Ophir appear to have been about 10 s . a day , but their success was most unequal . Mr . Forbes gives it as his opinion that where one gets " 20 / . or 30 / ., fifty earn 10 s . a day , and forty nine scarcely their rations . Later still , a newspaper correspondent estimates the average earnings at 2 L per week , and says no one would set it above 3 / . ; few rated the average earnings at the Turon above 11 . per week . " In other parts , scores were not earning-ieven their rations . At Mount Alexander , some estimate it to have been at one time as high as 3 / . a day per man , but the Commissioner , at the same time , puts it at from 15 s . to 30 s . Indeed , as Mr . Shilling truly

    remarks" Isolated facts , accounts of individual success , create undue impressions , ; people arc apt to forget the oblivion that attends failure , in reading the glowing accounts of one suddenly enriched . . . . Comparing all the accounts , it seems probable , that at . a time when the mail and weekly escort were bringing down . between 5 , 000 and 6 , 000 ounces weekly , the number engaged in mining operations approached at " least

    25 , 000 . I \ ow , let us take the weekly supply of gold at its maximum of 6 , 000 ounces , and the miners at only 24 , 000 , and we shall divide but a quarter of an ounce of gold weekly among them , —that is rather more than 16 s ., allowing for the highest price which has been given for gold at Sydney , 3 / . 5 s . 3 d . —for six day ' s hard labour , where the cost of mere living , that is , broiled mutton , damper , ancl tea , is at least 15 s , a week . We have

    therefore little doubt that these gold diggings are , after all , veritable lotteries ; a few enormous prizes , like the 30 , 000 / . so temptingly displayed in large capitals at the head of the old lotteiy bills , and represented in this case by Dr . Kerr ' s enormous " Hundred Weight , " and the more apocryphal " Nuggett , said to have weighed 1 , 300 ounces , set over against the thousand losers , concerning whose unfortunate reverses nobody ever heard . We may remark here ,

    that" As by far the largest supply of gold has been procured from the banks and beds of rivers flowing through accumulated masses of debris , either torn from the mountain side by some convulsion of nature , or brought down by the floods of past ages , even although a hundred weight has been found in the matrix , at one spot , it would be assuming more than we have any foundation for doing , to say that gold may be found anywhere , concentrated in large quantities , since every circumstance rather tends to prove that it has existed but rarely in masses , or , at any rate , that these have been so broken up in the course of aires , and disseminated amongst the rhhris of thf > the course of agesand disseminated amongst the debris of the

    , mountains , that it is now almost hopeless to search for matrix gold . " * And thus we find that no second huge masses of gold have been found ; but even the most sanguine advocates of gold digging are compelled to content themselves with reports of the discovery of far smaller peices , or a plentiful yield of gold diist . Mr . Shilling gives numerous instances of the great uncertainty of success . The best " claim " on the Turon sold for 900 / ., and the purchaser , during two days' trial , got 160 / . towards the purchase money . Another " claim" sold for 700 / ., but although seven pounds were found one clay , and eight pounds the next , it did not eventually repay the buyer . While one party of

    miners gained 1 , 500 / . in less than five weeks , many others obtained scarcely a bare subsistence ; and yet , he says , " to see them toiling at their miserable task , delving away like madmen , carrying huge bags of soil to be washed , you would fancysuch was the infatuation even of the wretched losers—that they were making their fortunes , and almost breaking their necks to make it soon . " Mr . Shilling ' s final opinion indeed is , " that it is very questionable whether the gross yield of the mines has as yet equalled the expense incurred in consequence of their discovery , ; " an opinion which we are well aware will be keenly controverted by some , but which has certainly strong statistical arguments to support it .

    Among our contemporaries , this "dream of gold" has awakened many speculations ; while the daily press teems with theories and suggestions as to what is to be done with the mass of surplus gold which will ere long , as they believe , flow hi upon us . The Daily News , in a leader some time since , suggested the great impulse which would be given to " art manu-* Vide Mr . Shilling ' s Lecture .

    September 4,1852. The .Stab Of Feeedom. ...

    September 4 , 1852 . THE . STAB OF FEEEDOM . 51

• Citation
  • Northern Star (1837-1852), Sept. 4, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_04091852/page/3/