The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-12 00:00:00

Iltrieenitul 37 Mt

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 12, 1852.

According to CICERO, it was BIAS who first pro-
claimed the sagacity of treating every friend as
though he were ultimately to become an enemy. A
more despicable sentiment than this was perhaps
never propounded. Yet, from an experience of up-
wards of a quarter of a century, we may assert without
fear of contradiction that it is precisely the opinion
which appears to have been acted upon throughout
his-political career by Lord JOHN nUSSELL. During
the period of his continuance in office the ex-Premier
always contrived to fence his policy round with a
sort of impenetrable chevaux-de-frieze of reservations.
Within their limits the " vulgar herd" of his sup-
rtart"s were never admitted ; and to this eireum.
II", we conceive is mainly attributable the isolated
Pfettirmill:el;chich' the Noble Lord has always
cus-
tomary emer laced in moments of more thancus-
IleY. Whenever a crisis arrived to
test the stability
so happened thati''c the late
Administration, it invariably
enabled to rally round tlato. Prime Minister was only
tunes were dependent Zn. the placemen whose for-
r,l the maintenance of his
Gavernment. During t
this became so notoriously the cage two or three sessions
known to every political calae'..aae that it was well
Cabinet existed on no understanding that the Whig
able than that of mere sutrera„gneraore respect
independent among the npreauntativzlhe more
people shrank, upon all those occasions, °f the
supporting by their votes one who 111. from
risen into power for the purposP, it would seem, only
baulking the popular ambitioh,,end whose distaste, at

one period, for the continuance of those progressive
and constitutional improvements to which he had
been formerly pledged, became so apparent that he
was familiarly designated Finality Joma by the wits
with a ludicrous and reproachful significance. Yield-
ing at length to the pressure of political circum-
stances, and to those onward influences of the age
which the genius of statesmanship has hitherto dis-
covered to be altogether irresistible—Lord JOHN
Russznn consented, it is true, once more to take the
initiative as a Reformer, and by so doing elevated him-
self to the head of what at the outset was presumed
to be a liberal and energetic Government. How the
specious promises of the Noble Lord were falsified
the country has learnt through six years' bitter
experience. Hew the affected principles of
the so-called leader of the Reformers were
one by one: either wholly and marvellously
abandoned, or distorted into the most despicable
shadow of Conservatism, it is scarcely, we believe,
necessary to demonstrate. The records of the past
Administration constitute a sufficient evidence of this
to show the hollowness of the policy which the
formation of the Whig Ministry in 1846 was sup-
posed to inaugurate. Among the annals of the departed
Government, among the catalogue of its achievements,
can the nation detect any assurance that its interests were
not for the most part flagrantly and deliberately f:r-
saken ? What advantage has the late Cabinet as-
sured to us in the way of education? What sub-
stantial benefit in the way of sanitary improvements ?
What in the way of practical reforms, whether in the
administration of the law or in the organization of
Parliament? Ample opportunity, it must be allowed
even by themselves, was afforded in regard to time,
and how far consequently can they be shown in a
single instance to have availed themselves of that
opportunity ? Six years elapsed during their posses-
sion of office and during those six years—what was
done by the Whigs towards ameliorating the old and
bitterly operating system of taxation ? How about
the unequal and grinding tax upon incomes ? How
about the prevention of bribery by the ballot? How
about the more equal distribution of the electoral
I districts ? How about the rational carrying out of
the wisbeCi•for scheme of retrenchment ? How
about the currency ? About Ireland ? About
the Criminal Code ? About ene machinery of colo-
nial government and all the other blatant evils which
had for years been crying out for some grand effort
of administrative interposition ?

Why—reviewing the whole series of these impor-
tant questions, and looking for their elucidation to
the fruits of the Ministerial labours of Lord JOHN
RUSSELL and his colleagues—we cen discern on all
sides little more than the most deplorable evidence of
indolence and procrastination. The people of England
are 23 far off 53 ever from the chance of
enjoying any comprehensive system of a really na-
tional and not sectarian system of education. Of
sanitary innovations we have heard, no doubt, more
than enough, but as yet the public knows little more
in regard to them than that it has had to supply
annual salaries to Mr. EDWIN CHADWICK and his
brother Commissioners. The Extramural Interments
Act for the metropolis we ourselves have re-
peatedly shown to be nothing better than a
delusion—seeing that the enactment up to
the present moment has actually proved to be
a dead letter. For the majority of the legal reforms
effected of late the nation has been indebted to in-
dividual Reformers like my Lord BROUGHAM, and not
to the collective Government. The multitude are still
as lamentably as heretofore under the effects of the
old blundering system of taxation, and if the tax
upon incomes expired with the sth of this present
April, we are indebted for that boon, not by any means
to the members of the recent Cabinet,an but to
the veteran representative of Montrose, ato the
non-interference of the existing Government. Then
as to the ballot, although it was called, in official
slang, an "open question" under the Whigs, it was
virtually tabooed by them, and practically neglected as
one among the chimerical dreams and Quixotic ventures
of Democracy. The electoral districts are not less
preposterously unequal in the proportion between
their dimensions and the respective number of their
representatives than at the pe:iod of the formation of the
departed Government. Something has been done, it
is true, in the way of retrenchment, but contrast that
" something" with what still remains to be accom-
plished, and the effected economy dwindles to abso-
lute insignificance. As to the colonies, the popula-
tion of the United Kingdom know rather too well
how inefficacious has been the policy pursued
towards them by the Chief Secretary of the late
Administration. Whatever credit, in fine,
devolves upon that Government for its
proceedings during the six years of its
supremacy is restricted to Sir GEORGE GREY, as
Home Secretary, to the Earl of CLARENDON (who
was not a Cabinet Minister), as Lord-Lieutenant of
Ireland—and more especially, and we may add, im-
measurably beyond all, to the very statesman who
was treated with such ingratitude by the ex-Premier,
the statesman whose popularity was the sole talisman
of his own power, the statesman to whom his Govern-
ment was indebted for the glory of maintain-
ing peace with Europe during a tremendous
sequence of revolutions—need we specify by name
the late Foreign Secretary ? These are the men
upon the value of whose promises the country will
very speedily have to decide. Will the nation resign
its destinies for another seven years to their keeping
—or will it look for more honesty and more reliance
in its Reformers?

The most sceptical are at length convinced. Even
the loudest scoffers are compelled unwillingly to
acknowledge that there is " no mistake" as to the
almost miraculous yield of the Australian gold fields.
All that the most vivid imagination could picture to
itself—as to wealth, boundless, immeaaureable—has
been more then realised. ALADDIN'S lamp has ap-
parently been brought to light in the nineteenth cen-
tury, and the most valuable of the precious metals
lies scattered in rich profusion on the very surface of
the earth, only requiring hands to collect the incal-
culable stores supplied by nature, in almost reckless
prodigality. The Australian accounts by each suc-
cessive vessel appear like the creations of the
wildest fiction, rather than credible statements,
emanating from trustworthy sources, and yet when
tested by the results, they appear not only to be by
no means exaggerated, but even far below the
astonishing reality - nor is the supply limited to a
exceeded gle district,
is by -y The intelligence from one locality
received from an-
other. There are Lake Bathurst and the Mulwarre
Ponds, Geelong,
the Sydney
y
Ballarat, and Mount Alexander, the
Turon Valley,
"diggins," all affording
apparently inexhaustibleylnseupplies. There is, in fact,
room enough for ever man who pleases to take out
his licence, and
with
his way to the auriferous I
pickaxe or cradle, find
s localities,
actually engaged at the Sydney mines From the last accounts
assertedat Ballarat and Mount
atfrom
AlexanderB ,00i0t t
iso 1
positivelyo , O O O ,
p erson whiles
fatll thatnes at
rhee
estimatedn u m bers
yi
no
occupied,
ire
ldthereaalni
localities,
it
tlaer
fromwe
take2o , 0i :too toac
account
onotothose working
for gold i
it is rather under the mark to state that
least 40,000 individuals searching e are at
colonies at this moment.il our
If, then, each Own
out a licence at the present rate of 3/ Inao takes
there will at once be areve nue of 120 . PQr mouth,
,000/ per
or 1,440,0001. per annum, an income "lens°
'in
suffi '
•
cleot to
bear all the expenses of the colony, and to promote a
well-devised system of emigration to the land
abundance for all, where no man's labour is
unprofit-
able, of
t'
able, but where every person, able - rc'fi
and willing to
work, is certain of obtaining remunerative employ.
ment.
Let us now consider the • •
quantities of gold
that these 40,000 miners have obtained, are obtain-
ing, and are still likely to obtain. We find that
within the past week gold to the amount of 378,0001.
has been received in London, and that 100,0001.
more is daily expected. We give the details :
The Melbourne brought 200,000/. ; the Alert,
128,000/. ; the Blackfriar and Bolivar 50,000/. ; and
it was known that the Hero, which sailed about the
same time, was bringing 100,0001. more. But this
formed but a small portion of the quantity collected,
as will appear from the official statements of the
sums brought in by the Government escort. It ap-
pears that the authorities have established a weekly
conveyance for receiving gold from the miners and
bringing it to Melbourne or Geelong. They re•
fuse, however, to guarentee its cafe deli-

very, and as they charge the enormous
sum of one per cent. carriage for a distance of from
seventy to seventy-five miles, vast numbers refuse to
comply with the extortionate demand ; by far the
greater number of persons prefer conveying their ac-
quisitions to the nearest market themselves, so that,
to use the words of the " Gold Circular," the diggers
prefer "saving the money and taking the risk." Mr.
PATERSON, an eminent gold merchant at Geelong,
states that during the preceding week he had pur-
chased 1,631 ounces of gold, and that only " one-
sixth of it reached him by Government escort." The
amount transmitted then by the " escort" is probably
in the same proportion, or about one-sixth, or, at the
outside, one quarter of the bullion actually
collected. Now the official returns of the
gold brought by the escort give the following
results, viz., on Wednesday, Nov. 19th, from Mount
Alexander, 6,4860 z. ; from Ballarat, 2,1170 z. ; from
Geelong, 6190 z. ; and for Government, 9160 z. ;
making a total of 10,138 ounces. On Wednesday,
the 26th, there were brought from the same districts
12,1060 z.; on Wednesday, 3d December, 16,6690 z. ;
on 10th December, 26,6560 z. ; and on the 17th De-
cember, 19,4920 z. Here, then, within a single month,
from the 19th November to the 17th December, was
no less than 85,061 ounces ; and if we take the esti-
mate that one-fourtb(and not one-sixth) was sent by
that conveyance, the total collection would be 330,244
ounces of gold, which, at the Mint price of 31. 17s. 6d.
per ounce, would make the value no less
than 1,275,4151., and that exclusive of Sydney
mines and other exceedingly productive districts.
That this is not an over-estimate will appear on
other grounds. That there are cases of extraordinary
individual success is certain. It is stated that
one man dug up 301 b. weight of gold in a single.
hour ; in another, of a man gaining 111 b. weight
in 48 hours ; another case, where a man got lib. in
a day. We also hear of a ship captain " bringing
back 800/. for three weeks' work," and CHARLES
ROBERTS, late drayman to Messrs. Cazernean and
Co., returning with 1,1001. as his share of five
weeks digging." There are also accounts of three
specimen's of gold and quartz, one weighing 281 b.,
another 261 b., and another something less, which
were estimated to contain at least one-
half gold, and "Peter Brennan's lump," as one
magnificent specimen was denominated, actually
soli for 1,3001. Now, although it cannot be supposed
that thegeinieruls
general body
referred
ybowouldprove so fortunate as the
lucky
from four to five ounces per week may biet
looked
appears
on thatabout the average collection. If we take the smaller
amount, the 20,000 or 30,000 miners at Mount
Alexander and Ballarat, would produce about from
80,000 to 90,000 ounces per week, or say 330,000
ounces in the month, we thus arrive at the same re-
sult by a diffent method.
Now it must be borne in mind that these estonish-
irg azienoerikinboy
wth;teh un-
skilledthe quantities
labour (nitiao
coarsest tools ; what, then, may be anticipated from
off solitarygoldleave
d been
the combined exertions of carefully selected and ex-
perienced miners, possessing first-rate machinery and
every requisite for obtaining the greatest quantity of
gold from the auriferous soil ? It is not too much to
assume that, with such facilities, skilful men will
obtain a quadruple produce, or sixteen ounces per
man a week. Now, several of the companies have
already sent out competent staffs. Last month, the
" Australian Mutual " dispatched between thirty and
forty men, per the Asiatic. " The Australian Free-
hold," as appears from an advertisement iu another
column, sent off the remainder of their staff from
Gravesend, per the Gipsy Queen, on the 6th instant.
We believe that other companies have eiLher made or
are actively engaged in making similar efforts.
What, then, will be the effect of such an addition to
the miners in the production of gold; and what
enormous profits must the speculators realise on the
amount of their investments ? If but the one-tenth of
what has been estimated be but realised—and we
cannot conceive the possibility of failure—the wildest
visions of the most sanguine enthusiasts will be more
than realised, and profits will be obtained exceeding
any that has ever resulted from any former specula-
tion. Interested alarmists may croak to their hearts'
content, frightening the timid and over-cautious until
the literally " golden " opportunities are for ever lost ;
but they cannot arrest the progress of events, or pre-
vent the accumulation of wealth far beyond that en-
joyed at any preceding period in our national history.
Those who have let slip the chance may too late
lament their folly and infatuation, but the nation will
have cause to rejoice when the copious supplies of
the precious metal lead to the full employment of the
labouring population by giving that which may be
regarded as the " very life-blood of industry," a cir-
culating medium adequate to the wants and exigen-
cies of the people.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of Saturday
and yesterday.
The Ateniteur publishes a decree regulating the
course of education in the colleges of France.
At the meeting of the Legislative Corps on Tues-
day next a message is to be presented from the Pan-
-SIDEINT of the Republic, which will contain a general
review of the affairs of the country since the last
message on the 12th of November, 1851.
The Itioniteur contains the following satisfactory
statement :

" The indirect revenue increases with the most re-
markable rapidity. The receipts for January, 1852, had
been inferior to those of 1851. The receipts for Fe-
bruary, 1852, exceed those of 1851 by 2,000,000 f. The
receipts for March, 1852, exceed thcze of March, 1851,
by nearly 5,000,000 f. This rapid increass is a staking
sign of the revival of business, and of the development of
work. Amongst these elements the registry duties are
particularly to be remerked; up to March they had
been very trifling, and in January and February had
hardly equalled those of the corresponding months of
1851. In March they exceed those of the correspond-
ing month by 1,800,000 f,"
The Union says :
spo"kletnaopfpfeoarratheeertteaginintnhinatgtohfe gtaraaynd, rwevililowta,kwe hpilealicewoans
the 10th of that month, on which occasion the eagles
will be delivered to the different regiments. The whole
of the Ist military division will be assembled on that day
in the Champ de Mars. The various regiments will be
represented by the colonel, a chef de bataillon, a captain,
a standardbearer, two non-commissioned officers, and
two privates. On the 4th the army of Paris will give
the President a grand ball at the Ecole Militaire."
A letter from Rouen states that Passion Week,
which is usually remarked for a falling off in busi-
ness, has been this year quite the reverse. A num-
ber of foreigners have visited the place, and the sales
have been considerable. Several large orders have
also been received from Paris both for calicoes and
printed cottons, and prices have been firmly main-
tained.
Accounts from Thuron and other manufacturing
districts in the Ilaut Rhin speak favourably of the
state of trade. The machine manufacturers have
been more particularly favoured, and large orders
have been received in consequence of the strike in
England, which will give employment for more than
a year.
The journals of the south state a great drought
prevails throughout all that part of France. In the
memory of man the department of the Gard has
never suffered so severely from a want of water.
M. EMILE DE GIRARDIN has received a formal
notice of warning from the Minister of Police on the
subject of 1153 series of articles, which, under the title
of " Conservons la Republique," have attracted a large
share of public attention.
The following is the form of the warning given by
the
Minister
PresseofG :—eneral Police to the responsible
editorofthe
32 of the organic law on the
" The Minister GeneraleopfrePsso,lideaet,edeoln7stihdeEreinbgruAarryt:
1852,
"Considerinel the article published in the Presse on
the 9th inst , which' contains the following passage:---' It
"Considering
article signed "tat, which probably would not be long waited for;
(then:ja,retiEeermopttrcl.e.e would be the direct provocation to an
may be the
-. no Alibaud Wll3 to be found in the Republican,
party, a Moe
The said Royalist party.
- •
that it cannot be permitted, without
outraging
attentat on ,:e.samnueleddt:mbEeerafili:liebmnlddicaeisnmGaonitrhraerd!?
the person
to proc
#l,chiefof the State, whatever
inevitableal s
racter h:n-
preperson of .-o
teats or
which so gnth
periodical peer,; " an
argument is founded;
moderation Consideringand
that the Presse has thus forgotten that
hypothetical circumstances on
of
decree of Feb. 17,
" Decrees— ' Prudence aro the first laws the
"Art. 1. Accord' /‘ rt. 32 of the
EEmile de Girardin, the in the persons According to the terms of .. .
Presse,
JZl6rat warning is given to the m
" Art. '2. The 0 editor.
Prefect charged with the
execution of this decree. of Police is cha",
" kril 9, 1852." " DE MAUPAS,
one of the directors, and M.
on the 31. st
t o ' General Police.
The Constitutionnel gi" Minister i . of
the proceedings of
CANnontiaT during his
Mission in the department of the Nievre :
" On arriving at Novers General
the following account .
ult, tho depart-

mental commission was immediately convoked, and after
a minute examination of all the documents, 74 of the
p:isoners out of 228 :condemned to transportation were
either set at liberty or had their punishments commuted.
On the Ist he arrived at Cosne, 35 out of 185 prisoners
were released, and before quitting the prison they all
signed a formal engagement to renounce for ever all po-
litical:intrigues. On the 2d the general arrived at Cla-
mecy, but where, from the gravity of tho charges
against them, only 52 out 0f592 prisoners were considered
deserving of clemency. The general, during his mission,
has directed tho clemency of the Prince President more
particularly ou poor and ignorant men, fathers of fami-
lies, aged parents, at the same time that he
has and songgivenpec ofunlary assistance to the wives and children
of such as still remain in confinement."
" A decree," says the Public, "is shortly to fix the
period of the new elections in the place of General
CAVAIGNAC, M. CARROT, M. HERON, and M. RE-
NOUARD, who have given in their resignation as mem-
bers of the Legislative Body."
We read in the Public:—"Art. 24 of the new Con-
' stitution declares that the sittings of the Senate are
not to be public. A journal states that the Senate
intends publishing the minutes of its sittings in the
Legislative Body. We can
the journal in question is
aaffirm h
quite mannerr
etrraaodtoneptoht
erroneous."
eds bs
assertion
tt ihoeo
of
The article for which the Corsaire was seized on
Wednesday is entitled, "Petit Dialogue sur de tres-
petites chosen." The writer of it and the responsible
editor of the paper ere to be prosecuted for exciting to
hatred and contempt of the Government."
BUSINESSLON DDOONN E
STOCK IN F FOREIGN
EXCHANGE,
APRIL
I WA Y
1S AO.T THE
Dutch Rhenish, 4%—East Indian, 21 /s—Great Indian
N—Orleans and Bordeaux, 14m—
Paris and Lyons, 111:'!,—Paris and Rouen, 30% —Rouen and
Havre, 12,/,--Sambre and Meese, 4Th—Tours—t
and Nantes,
ll—West klanders, 23/—Western of France, NPeonrtikhseurnla' of France, 23 5--Luxembourg, 4:3',—Namur and Liege, 7
.

SPAIN.
We have received advices from Madrid of the Bth.
The publisher of the Nation, in which an article
offensive to the PRESIDENT of the French Republic
had appeared, has been condemned to six months'
imprisonment and 39,000 reals fine. He has appealed.
The journals were ordered not to remark ou the new
law on the press.
MM. FOULD and PISCATORY are in Madrid. It is
stated that the object of their visit is the "canalisa-
tion" of the Ebro.
40i ; Exchange on London, 50 80 money.
MADRID BOURSE, APRIL 6.—Three per Cents.,

GERMANY.
It i 3 confidently believed in Vienna that the death
of FritlCU SCHWARZENBEEG will not cause any change
in the int sm.!' or the foreign policy of Austria.
The fortifying of this city is again under lively
discussion, the project formerly entertained of the
establishment of an enormous arsenal h^,s received the
Imperial sanction. Orders have been given for the
preparation of the plans.
It is said that the EMPEROR intends going to
Venice immediately after the arrival there of the
Grand Dukes NICHOLAS and MICUAEL.
The Prussian Gazette publishes the following tele-
graphic dispatch, dated Vienna, 6th inst.:—
" ~cnnt Bnoi, Austtisn Ambassador in London, is
named Minister of Foreign .Affairs; Baron Werner is
charged with the direction of that department until the
installation of the n©w Minister."
Letters from 'Hanover state that the Ministerial
crisis will be solved by the resignation of MM. DE
BOREIES and VoN DER .DECKEN while M. DE
SCHEELE and MM. 13ACMEISTER and WINDTHORSEN
will retain their portfolios, and carry out their prin-
ciples.

Eleven officers, attended by 150 seamen, have gone
from Berlin to Bremerhaven, for the purpose of
taking possession of the two vessels, the Eckenforde
and BArharossa, which have been made over to
Prussia from the German fleet by the decision of the
Germanic Diet.

The German fleet, which has now been dissolved,
consists of-2 steam-frigates of 7.50-horse power and
11 guns, and 2 sailing frigates, 7 steam corvettes,
and 26 gun- boats.
The First Chamber of Darmstadt adopted, en the
6th, the Bill sent up by the Second Chamber for the
re-establishment of capital puniehnients.
The German Journal of Frankfort states that the
Diplomatic Congress at Darmstadt, on the subject of
the Congress of the Zollverein, has ended without any
result having been come to respecting the different
propositions which were brought forward.
The Chamber of Brunswick, in a recent sitting,
rejected a motion for the abolition of the lottery.
The Hanoverian Diet is convoked for the Ist of
May, from two to three years.
A letter from Carisruhe of the 7th states that the
illness of the Grand Duke of BADEN has made such
rapid progress that his dissolution was hourly ex-
pected. It was announced that the hereditary Prince
Louis will:be proclaimed Grand Duke, but that Prince
FREDERICK will take the reins of government.