The Express.
London, England, 1851-09-11 00:00:00

NEW SOUTH WALES.

Sydneypapers are of course alive with the one
great subject—the diggings. The Empire alone
finds a column's space to denounce the folly of setting
up a Roman catholic candidate for Sydney, merely
on the ground of his being a Roman catholic, and
without any reference to his talents, fitness, or
weight. The election of the catholic candidate, Mr.
Longman, would throw out a candidate of real
utility.
The Bathurst Free Press of yesterday, contains two let-
ters from the mines, one dated " Ophir, May 24th," the
other, "Diggings, May 23rd." The writer of the first of
these letters complains bitterly that in the first appoint-
ments Mr. Hargraves had been overlooked by the govern-
ment, and states that any neglect of that gentleman's merits
will create general dissatisfaction among the miners. The
letter bearing date on the 23rd states that the writer's
party (four persons) had in three days got six ounces of
gold ; others around them had done much better, and a
great many more had done worse. This writer, who seems
a man of superior intelligence, affirms that in gold digging,
as in other matters, the " rsee is not always to the swift,"
but according to his experience the reverse, as many per-
sons with scarcely any equipment at all were doing better
than others who had come fully and expensively prepared.
As an instance, he speaks of one little man, or as he terms
him, a " shrimp of a fellow," who, with a forked stick and
an old frying pan, raked up five pounds worth of gold in
half a day.
The free Press states that a gentleman counted, during
last Tuesday, 240 people on the Swallow Creek lto.nl, all
journeying towards the mines. The number of persons ar-
riving from Sydney is stated to be very great, and many in
severe distress. the letters from the mines state that
large nuntben are not earning more than 105. per day. The
firm of Messrs. Birnstingl received • letter this morning
accompanied by 14 ounces of fine gold. Letters were also
, received by Messrs. Hale and Lamb, the jewellers ; the lot-
, ter gentleman's correspondent corroborating the previous
information, that rubies in considerable quantities have been

discovered.
The following is extract,4 from a letter received by a
Sydney merchant, dated " O'Connell Plains, May 26th."
I ea* sell bacon at the diggings at 3s. p.r ib. Old Bill
—, Caine in after two days digging, and sold his gold for
Ditto Dunsford, the watchmaker in Bathurst. 1 can sell
flour at 1.. per lb."
The intelligence this morning discloses no new visions of
fortune. There is no advice of any other lucky digger
having turned up a golden potato root. The sum of the in-
formation is, that gold digging is beginning to present itself
as a hard and toilsome calling, which demands the utmost
perseverance, and the closest application to ensure faeces..
The following letter was received this morning by Dr.
Mackellar, with about a quarter of an ounce of gold as a
sample. The example of the writer with respect to his re.
lotion with his employer, wiil at once suggest itself to all
right-minded persons similarly situated for honourable imi-
tation. The letter itself being from a gentleman of intelli-
gence will be read with great interest.
• --

" Bathurst, 27th May, 1&il.
"Dear Sir,—l received yours of the 22nd inst. duly, but
bring at the diggings I could not answer it before. lam
extremely obliged to you for getting me the money. You
say you hope I will not leave the Dr.' without a notice of
some kind. It is nut my intention to lease him at all, pro-
vided he pays me well, although the gold is a great induce-
ment. I feel quite confident that I cou d make at least 101. or
152. a week ; but if I was certain of making a thousand a
week, I would not lease the Dr. in a dishonourable way.
Should I leave him, I will give him a month's notice at
least. There is abundance of gold in this creek; they arc
now at work—it has been found twelve miles apart in
it, and not only in the creek, but on the sides of the
hills. There is about fifteen hundred men at work •

all are getting some, many are doing very well in-
deed. A party of four men obtained 2801. worth
at one haul, another company of four got upwards of one
pound of gold on Saturday. last. I suppose it is worth
301. A great many are earning 201. to 401. a week. It is
very hard work, and they have to put up with great in-
conveniences. You would enjoy a trip to the diggings if
hou have any taste for scenery and romance, &e., and I
ave no doubt but that you would more than clear your
expensts up if you are willing to use the pick and tin
dish. Dr. Machattie has been up. lie borrowed a tin
dish for one hour, and got 13s. worth. I worked four
hours, and got 30s. worth, with nothing but a pick and
tin dish. It took me six hours to walk my borne in from
the diggings, and in that short time I met 214 people on
the road to Ophir.—Yours, ate.,
"JOHN llrrettitreos."
With reference to the reported discovery of gold in
other parts of the colony, the //erred of this morning has
the following:

" Got.u.—The reports that gold has been discovered at
the Manning River are confirmed, a passenger by the
'Thistle last night having brought with hint a piece weigh-
ing nearly an ounce obtained in that locality."
Since our last we (the Empire) have not gained any more
important information than what we gave. We have
gleaned a few particulars, however, from a person in con-
nexion with the expedition which arrived on Tuesday,
comprising Mr. Hindson, Mr. Alexander Campbell, Mr.
Brown tut the firm of Mort and Brown), and one or two
other gentlemen. This party started last Saturday week,
in a vehicle belonging to Mr. Edward., of the livery-stables
in Macquarie street. For two days after they. started the
weather was extremely wet. When they arrived at tlie
Nepean, the river was so flooded that they had to wait from
Saturday until Monday before they ventured to cross in the
punt. The road during the rest of the way WWI also very
much cut up by the recent rains. A party who started with
them was so alarmed by the state of the weather that they
gave up at the Nepcan and returned to Sydney. The other
party, after a journey at the rate of more than thirty miles
a day, arrived in Bathurst perfectly safe. Everything
they saw there indicated confusion and excitement among
theinhabitants. Some were se,n with cradles and pick-
axes and shovels, either starting for or preparing to go to
the mines. As an instance of the excitement, and the
cheap estimation in which horses are held, our informant
assures us that one person who lost a horse over a precipice
on the road to the mines, did not take the trouble to see
what became of the animal, but went and supplied himself'
with another horse from a paddock hard by. The road to
the mines is, generally speaking, very passable, and a team
can approach within a mile and a half of the'
spot where the miners are at work. The ground is per-
fectly barren, there being scarcely a blade of grass, and
but very few trees within thirty miles of the diggings. All
the tents, for the most part, are at a considerable distance
from the scene of operations. The gold is principally got
from the creek, which is said to rise at times ten feet high ;
the water from the mountains, in rainy weather, being ex-
tremely copious. The miners in the creek are constantly
working in water, and it is feared that during the winter a
great deal of sickness will be experienced. Persons who
bring horses to the diggings are obliged to send them back
nearly half way to Bathurst for "keep,' there being no-
thing for them to eat in the vicinity of the mines. The
miners are very peaceable and orderly, and strenuously re-
probate the bringing of fire-arms among them.
During one week our informant states that the estimate
let gold found was supposed to be, on the average, If. per
day to each man. Our informant states that two appren-
dee boys, who " bolted" from Bathurst, were only two days
at the diggings when they returned their stepfather 121.1
worth of gold. Ho also informs us of a person who hap-
pened to have a quarrel with his wife, and on the impulse
of the moment walked off to the diggings for the purpose of
annoying her. This person it was reported returned in
seven days with gold to the value of 1701. He relatesseversl
other instances of large quantities of gold having becu found
in short spaces of time. In feet all accounts concur in repre-
senting the Ophir district as being rich beyond all err
caption, and it is confidently conjectured by scientifla yew
sons that even richer veins will soon be discovered than dap
one already operated upon. Oa returning the party were
accompanied by Mr. Hargraves, who is at present in Syd-
ney. They brought a great quantity of sold with them.
which they purchased both at the diggings amiatalistmet.
A sample of it was the large piece exhibited by ldr. EY&
NM on Tuesday. It is said that the total value of the
which arrived a Sydney during the last two or three
is not leis than 9001. On the road coming down the
met bet seen 400 and 600 men, and nearly 200 WM,
direct for the diggings. Many of drays were well Wen
with provisions, which will no doubt afford a cheer-
ful relief to many of the miners, who are already beginning
to feel the effects of low diet and hard labour. The pedes-
trians included all sorts and sixes. On being interrogated
as to whither they were going, the invariable reply was,
" To the diggings." All kinds of provisions are, asprevious
Recounts inform us, extremely dear, as also spirits. Rum
and colonial ale on the road to Bathurst are said to be 6d. a
glass, and brandy 9d. As many persons have gone but very
poorly provided both in point of provisions and implements,
it is expected that the severe weather just now setting in
will cause many to return before long.

It is our painful duty to record a new act of violence 4.
the part of an English cruiser. The Brazilian smack
Amelia, belonging to Mandel Francisco de Almeida, master
on beranl the same, having left this port on the 17th of
Jelly last for that of the N illa de Santa Cruz, in the Pro-
vince of Espirito Santo, was captured and sunk by an
English steamer, the name of which has not yet come to
our knowledge. The crew and 'passengers were however „,
landed at the Cidade via Victoria. IRE OPTWARD CAPE MAIL *crew-steamer Sir
Robert Peel broke down a few hours before she reached
We have been assured that the Amelia was never her da-
ens-
jit7ed in the slave trade. She sailed from Campos, where Sierra Leone as the 4th nit., and so serious were
built, to this port • and lately she has traded be- frets that she: could not get away until the 18th of August.
she was
tween Rio de Janeiro and ilte Villa de Santo Crux, being Indeed, her own engineers could never have repaired her,
employed only for the transport of rosewood and other Der mid the . "re of her Majesty's steam-slop Alecto,
timber. At the time of her being taken she had on board Commander Lane, then at Sierra Leone ; but on the arrival
goods ordered for the Villa de Santa Cruz, and two In- of the Hellosint, the additional engineering assistance
which that (initialled completed the repairs, and she
dun cslfs shipped by a person who portages a plantation in
was pronou capable of proceeding to sea. The chief
that city. engineer of the Hellespont, in the trial of the machinery of
The captors, before sinking the smack, took possession the Sir Robert Peel, got his foot so fearfully crushed be-
ef everything that could be found as booed) not even ex- tween the crank and the bearing that, on removal to the
eenting, as we have been told, part of the money' Hellespont, an amputation was deemed advisable, and the
with which the Milt" had been "'Mu" foe remittance, I
poor fellow came home in the Hellespont. On account of
It is reported that the motive alleged for the commissiona this misfurtune and delay at Sierra Leone, we cannot expect
of this new act of violence was the smack's being cleared the Sir Robert Peel to arrive in England at the used time
foe the Villa de Santa Crux, a port not laid down on the nom month.
map. It must be observed that the Viola de Santa Cruz I
TII.OOPB FOR TuECAPE.—The Sidon and Retribution
(situated ten leagues to the north of the Cidadc do Vie-1
with the 80th Rifles on board, arrived at Bahia
tore) was lately. elevated to this category by the Provincial
and .on the 1 of August, and were to leave on the 22nd of
Assembly of Spirit* Santo. ft is the old Alden Velha,
in that name it is laid down on the chart* now in use. August for the Cape, which place they. expect to reach about
the Mak of this mouth, so that no intelligence from the
Extract of a letter from Rio Janeiro : Cape can be heard of them before the middle of Novem-
ber at the earliest. With the exception of one man dead,
Those who still employ themselves in the slave trade are the milers and soldiers were all in good health.
so thoroughly convinced of the firm resolution taken by the
kiwis] government not to show them the least considers- NATAL APPOINTMENTS,—ADMIRALTY, SEPT. 10.—
tion that a certain T. A. C. Ramos, commonly called Ma- Lieut. E. Nam, to study steam :at Woolwich. Mate J.
nets, and one Alvarengo, appearing implicated in slaving Willcox, to Rattler Midshipmen R. Save!, to IVaterloo ;
transactions hy means of discoveries made OD the apprehea- B. J. Cooper, T. H. Karnslake, and J. S. Rudd, to Ato-
vim of a vessel said to belong to Ramos have ableoada, dote; and F. Bowen, to Dido. Naval Cadets H. A. Wil-
sad fled from Brazil, notwithstanding & eiseametaaos of mate, and G. P. Jeaym. , to Dido ; and F. Amherst, to
the authorities not being in pommies of say legal proof i Rattler. Masters' Aatauts J. Biadwood, to Delkrophon;
ageism[ them. 1 and N. D. Banos, to Battkr.