The Express.
London, England, 1851-01-07 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 7, 1851.

From all we can learn, it appears the produce of
the silver mines is rather increasing than diminish-
' tog; and should quicksilver become cheaper and more
abundant, as some expee', we may confidently look
forward to greater enterprise in, this branch cf useful,
though not always profitable industry. The mine-
ral (renting of Mexico are far from being exhausted.
They still yield an abundant supply, if we may judge
from the coinage of the mints, exceeding 10,4'00,000
of dollars per annum ; and there can be no
doubt that a fresh stimulai would be given
to the mining interest in that country, if the
silver could be recovered at less cost. Poorer mines
now abandoted might then be profitably worked;
while, under the influence of new zeal and enterprise,
fresh sources of wealth would be discovered. It is
not the want of mines or rich minerals which intimi-

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY ETZIOINO.
As yet nothing hu been settled with regard to
new ministry, and the lists which circulate have so
little foundation thtt it would only be confusing your
readers with unmeaaing combinations of names to
quote them.
The crisis is thought to be prolonged designedly,
and two or three days are expected to elapse before
the new cabinet will be definitively installed. At
two o'clock it was announced in the Chamber that M.
Baroche bad been at the Elysda ever since eight in the
morning. Up to 3 CO member of the late cabinet had
appeared on the ministerial bench. The President
seemed CO little busied with seeking a solution to the
interregnum that he went to amuse himself with look-
ing at the Exhibition of Pictures. It was the
prevailing opinion in the Assembly that, after the
crisis had been prolonged for two or three days,
a cabinet would be formed, in which many of the
former ministers would retain their seats. Generals
Baragnay d'Hilliers and Randon, M. Dronyn de
l'Huys, and M. Abbatucci (tbe father) were spoken of
as likely to take office. MM. Fould and Baroche
would, it was thought, figure among the ministers
who remained. Indeed, in all the combinations the

dates speculators in this walk, but the onormons cost
of bringing the ore to the surface and the recovery of
the silver. The minerals are found at a great depth
in the bowels of the earth, and one great item of ex-
pense in working is in pumping-engines, the quantity
of water constantly impeding the operations of the
miners. If these and other peculiar difficulties could
be overcome at less cost, and an abundant

supply of quicksilver be provided at a reasonable
price, we can have little doubt of the profitable
yield of the Mexican mine., mach less of
the rapid extension of this fitld of enterprise. It is
well k,pown that the silver produced from the mines
now in operation contains a cansiderable quantity of
gold, which is realised at little additional cost. In
truth, it is cot a rare occurrence for the value of the
gold to exceed that of the silver, though forming but
a small portion of its bulk; and (Ton this basis we
may calculate the prosperity of the mines under such
circumstances as we have supposed.
An additional reason against the notion of the
golden harvest of California causing this remarkable
appreciation of the price of silver, is the comparatively
small amount from that source which has found its
way to Europe. This is computed not to exceed four
millions sterling; and even this amount has not
pressed upon the market to cause any downwardtend-
ency. The facility °ladling immediately any amount
of gold at the Bank, at an invariable price, will pre-
vent any fluctuation in the mat ket value of gold till
the price materially fall throughout the world. Whether
this event is likely to happen is another question,
though, if we were tempted by the sanguine expec-
tations of some of our cotemporaries, and permitted ou
sober judgment to be led captive by visionary dreams
and fallacious calculations, we might speculate on the
future as the real age of gold. Bat uwe dwell com-
placently on the bright illusions of these writers, and
anticipate in their arithmetical problems a vast in-
crease of material wealth to the world, and unbounded
prosperity to this country in particular, a little reflec-
tion, accompanied by a few sober facts, soon exposes
the fallacies of the imagination. Figures are noto-
riously deceitful, and when founded on bare assump-
tions are utterly worthless. Statements are
equally so, when merely speculative, and when
they disregard the voice of experience. For
example : we do not deny that the amount
et gold raised in California has increased, or
that the aggregate produce of last year ex-
ceeded ten millions of pounds sterling; but from
this it does not follow that this year it will reach
eighteen millions, as some calculate. Because the in-
crease has in some degree been proportionate to the
increase of labourers, it is not a logical inference that it
shall be always so. Because the amount collected
now surpasses the sanguine hopes of most, so far from
the future exhibiting a larger return with any degree
of assurance, it would be far safer to prophesy the
contrary result. In truth, there are already some
symptoms apparent of this falling off, if we may judge
by some recent accounts, which show not only an
unsatisfactory return to the majority, of actual realised
wealth, but the unhealthy and dispiriting nature of the
occupation. Thousands are migrating to Calitornia
on the bare speculation of riches easily acquired,
bat it is also evident that many have been disgusted
and disappointed, and are on their return to the more
sober employments of ordinary industry. We may
calculate that for every man who obtains a prize and
promulgates it at least a thousand follow his track on
mere expectation. But the greatest fallacy of all is
perhaps that of estimating the superficial mum miles
of the Valley of the Sacramento and other rivers, and
allotting a given amount of space to each " digger,'
and then, by calculating the value of gold to be col-
lected by each labourer at so much a dry, show how
much may be obtained each year, and again, the num-
bee of years the minetal wealth may be expected tope
'supplied. Bat in this illusory estimate the fact is
11 overlooked, and it is a fact well testified, that
the valley is not all equally rich in gold. Oa
the contrary, the chances are against the diggers
making more than a precarious livelihood, though
many are fortunate in turning up a " lucky card."
' There appears to be less certainty in the remit than
we imagine, and as the surface-washings are turned
over, probably the chances of success will very much
diminish.

name of Fould is enter: d. The resignation of the
Prefect of Pollee has not been accepted, nor likely
to be so. No doubt it would be, in the eyes of
the President, desirable to form a cabinet that would
face the task of dismissing Gen. Changarnier. But
although several representatives, even in the Club of
the Rue des Pyramidal, have openly assailed the
dominatkn of that military chief, and demonstrated
that all regular government is impossible while
so overgrown • power defies the control of
the executive, still it is hopeless to incline a
majority of the Chamber to this way of thiukiog.
On the other hand, the Pouvoir recommends
the President to abdicate, in order to show the
country how necessary his power is to the sta-
bility of the government. Messages and appeals
to the people are spoken of as on the
eve of appearing: but, in the meanwhile, all goes on
very quietly, and the people bay and sell at the gay
booths on the Boulevards, quite unconscious that Gen.
Changarnier is making skilful combinations for the
preservation of order, and keeps the troops consigned
to barracks.
Many think that after a few days of interregnum
the old ministry will come back, with the exception
of General Schram, who insists positively upon
retiring. Perhaps he will be replaced by General
Baraguay d'Hilliers.
M. Odilon Barrot was sent for to the Elysee last
night, but no official offers were made to him.
The Muniteur du Stir of yesterday evening states
, that M. Dupin, president of the National Assembly,
, was lent for yesterday morning by the President of
, the Republic, and that he proceeded to the Elysee
immediately.
k The Assembly was occupied with debating on the
r Mortgage ; but very little attention was paid to
t the discussion. _ .

The more one considers the retirement of the late
cabinet, the mot o one is puzzled to discover an ade-
quate reason for the violent opposition which it has
lately encountered at the hands of the parliamentary
majority. In none of the three last questions upon
which the government has been beaten can it by any
impartial mind be considered in the wrong, although
it fright have acted with more tact and address by
declining a direct collision. Few will approve the
decision of the bureau in favour of the main-
tenance of M. Yon in office, and still fewer
the menace to employ force for the liberation of a
representative arrested for debt. Lastly the discour-
teous refusal to allow the Minister of War a delay of
24 hours to prepare himself to answer an interpella-
, doe respecting a document which he bad not yet been
able to find, demonstrates en almost spiteful spirit of
opposition. What have these ministers done to be
treated with so little ceremony ? They have been,
during the whole of their administration, the sub-
missive tools of that parliamentary majority who'
now trample upon them. They have been
the means of passing all those repressive mea-
sures as regard. the press, meetings, and suffrage
which have lifted the Assembly into its present
proud and secure position. Certainly the government
cannot be charged with excessive Bonapartism, for in
all the combinations which have been mentioned since
its resignation, mole or fewer of the President's per-
goal friends enter, whereas in the present, or rather
the latejministry, not one purely Elystan name can be
mentioned. One can hardly conceive a more factious
course of conduct than to decline the responsibi-
lities of office, and yet to make it impoe-
leible for other ministers to carry on the govern-
ment, without alleging good reasons. One searches
in vain to find such reasons. Read the Ordre, the
most sensible paper of the opposition, and it has
nothing better to bring rorward than the old com-
plaint, that the ministers never with sufficient dis-
tinctness disavowed the marceuvres of the Bonapart-
ist faction. I believe that no one is more disposed
than the President himself to deprecate the imprudent
zeal of some of his partisans ; but while the parliament
wage so bitter a w►r upon the Elysee upon prirciples
totally independent of the views espoused by the
ultra-Bonapartist, claiming an undivided sovereignty
for the Assembly, to call upon the President to clear
the Elysee of those who are personally devoted to hie
cause, is out of all reason.
At three o'clock yesterday afternoon the President
of the Republic left the Dye& on horseback, accom-
panied by an officer, and rode up the boulevards. He
was received on the whole line with manifestations
of respect by all classes of persons.
A meeting of the parliamentary club of the Roo
des Pyramides was held yesterday evening. The
ministerial crisis was the subject of discussion. The
meeting was unanimous in a resolution to give to the
executive government an energetic support.
M. Charon, the person at whose suit M. Maugnin
was arrested, presented on Saturday an application
to M. Debelleyme, president of the Civil Tribunal,
for authority to continue proceedings against his
debtor, and to call upon the director of the prison in
the Rue de Clichy to pay him 5,000 f. damages foe
having set M. Maugnin at liberty. This affair will be
pleaded on Wednesday before the First Chamber of
the Tribunal.
BOUM.

We are aware how discouraging such cold state-
ments must be to those sanguine and hopeful minds
who, in their closets, have reduced speculation to a
moral certainty, and arrayed conjecture in the garb of
truth, but in such matters we should take experience
as our guide, and not imaginary illusions; and as
experience teaches that nature has never before sup-
plied the world with the precious metal in such
lavish abundance, so we should be cautious
and temperate in our vaticination. Remember
we have the experience of some thousand years.
On the discovery of America the name cry was
raised of "inexhaustible treasures," of "unbounded
wealth "—the same sanguine hopes excited, the same
exaggeration indulged is, and what is equally true,
even greater sufferings and privations endured in
quest of treasure, yet eventually the world was not
deluged with the precious metals. Before that period
they had sunk to the lowest point known in modern
history, and therefore the supplies from America came
like a fertilising stream over a parched valley, and
gave an impetus to the languid enterprise of man-
kind, and promoted civilisation throughout Europe.
So now when the gold mines are exhausted
or tending to exhaustion, when the population
of Europe and America is rapidly on the
increase, when individual wealth is increasing
from day to day—labourers merging in the middle,
and the middle in the high classes—and therefore the
means extending of laying oat money on articles of
ornament and utility, as jewellery and watches, the
supplies of gold from California may not eventually
very far exceed our increasing wants in manufac-
ture and coin. About two millions of pounds ster-
ling are required to replenish our currency alone every
year, and this meet increase with the population.
And although we have no accurate data upon which
to calculate the amount employed in manufacture,
and therefore withdrawn from the market, we may
safely assume a very considerable augmen-
tation in this department of trade. The ex-
perience of each can bear witness to a marked
increase of gold watch(' and chains, as well as orna-
mental jewellery. And should gold become more
abundant, and the pries fall, we may fully anticipate
a greater demand for such purposes. As an illustra-
tion of the vast value of that metal that may be con-
sumed in manufacture the following euriou calcula-
tion was made by Mr. JACOB relative to a former
period : " If we suppose Europe to have contained
one hundred millions of inhabitants, and one-tenth of
these to have been married oar widowed females, with
each a gold ring of only a pennyweight of gold, the
value of them would amount to two million pounds
sterling."

BOSNIA.

On the 17th December Omer Puha made his
triumphal entry into Boma Susi. Mahmod, the
rebellious Pasha of Tula, rode on a miserable
'while affixed to the back of a peasant's sorry jade.
After him rode the other prisoners, the mainelims,
the caul, 80., each horse being attached to the
saddle of its predecessor. Four Nieams (Christians),
deemed as jesters, with cap and bells, and performing
all kinds of antics, led on the mournful procession.
After this Mastapha Pasha Bahia was led on foot
through the streets, and it is said that the sad
spatula drew tears from the eyes of many of
the Turks who stood round. Omer Pasha in
Leaded to proofed at once to the Herzegowina.
Mahmud Puha had escaped to Vinkovre, in Slavo-
nia, but for some reason unknown he returned to
Tula, and voluntarily surrendered himself to the
Serukier, who has treated him as above-mentioned,
and paid the arrears of his troops with the 18,000
laws which he found in the fallen despot's pos-
session.