The Sun.
London, England, 1851-05-20 00:00:00

THE sum LONDON, TUESDAY y EvIENING, MAY 20, 1851.

ELECTION COMMITTEE.

HARWICH.

The Committee sat again yesterday, and. proceeded
with the objections on the part of the sitting Member to
the votes polled by Mr. Cranford.
On the conclusion of the scrutiny the room was cleared,
and on the parties being admitted,
The CHAIRMAN announced that the Committee had
determined that Mr. Prinsep, not being duly qualified in
accordance with the provisions of the Ist and 2d Vic..
cap. 48, entitled " An Act to amend the Laws relating to
the qualification of Members to serve in Parliament," was
not duly elected for the borough of Harwich to serveve in
the present Parliament, and that the last election was
therefore a void election.

LIFE IN CALIFORN •
We have been favoured with the following letter
from a young Englishman, who has lately visited

IA

" San Francisco, California, March 14.
It is now nearly a month since I arrived in San
Francisco. During that time I have been busily em-
ployed,timeandlabour that •
mines in California. After the it
ployed, visiting all the different and most important
had cost me to reach this country, I fully expected
that nothing could repay me ; but I am agreeably
surprised, and consider that I am now amply re-
warded for all my troubles. Even as a commonplace
traveller, I find in California a wide field of interest.
The strange conglomeration of society; the practical
system of self-government;
constitution, framed not so much
results
ulptsecouflia an
ritelexspeorfim a experimental
on the models of others as from individual causes
and local necessities, are things which no other
part of the world affords such perfect specimens
of as California. Political economists and funded
proprietors speculate on its immediate influences;
while philosophers, on the other hand, prognosticating
its ultimate destiny, look upon this country as the means
of advancing civilisation and propagating Christianity
from the eastern to the western shores of the Pacific.
Without, however, indulging in any such lucubrations,
with which I have but small concern, I content myself
with the ordinary avocation ofgratifying and
curiosity
of being amused.
On entering the bay of San Francisco, the first object
that strikes one is the enormous mass of shipping. Lon-
don and Liverpool are of course beyond comparison, but
with the exception of these, and perhaps New York I
know of no other port which contains so great a number
of vessels. The town itself is equally remarkable.
When one reflects that eighteen months ago a few scat-
tered tents were the only habitations in the place, one
looks with amazement on the city, which is daily in-
creasing, and which already numbers over 30,000 in-
habitonts.
The site of the town is a steep sandy hill, but Yankee
ingenuity is rapidly removing this inconvenience by
levelling the hill and filling up the bay. The greater
number of the buildings are upon piers stretching
into the sea, and a lot of some 40 feet square of
" water surface" is worth about 5,000 dolls. In the
very centre of the town are several large ships, dis-
masted and roofed over. Their strange looking broad-
sides are decorated with the signs of different shops; and
as they form a portion of the regular street, one
wonders, at first, what eccentric characters have taken
the trouble to paint their houses with two black stories
and a white one in the middle. Air, ady there are several
theatres, a French vaudeville, and one Italian Opera!
And notwithstanding the strong national propensity of
the people for business, one of the principal features of
San Francisco, and indeed of every town in California,
is the gambling houses. They are never closed and
they are always full. It would be difficult to
give you a correct idea of these infernal re-
gions, or to describe the strange scenes which daily
take piece in them. Picture to yourself enormous rooms,
gaudily decoiated, filled with some 400 or 500 people of
all classes, without distinction of age, rank, or sex.
" Mon' 6," " Faro," " Rouge et Noir," are the favourites
among an endless variety of games. The tables are co-
vered wish money, surmounted with ornamental lumps of
gold and bags of dust. At ono end of the room is, of
course, a bar; at the other is a band. The
excitement of the play, the effects of the liquor,
the influence of the music, and, above all, the
confusion of languages is, as you may imagine,
what the Yankees call " some." Everybody is armed,
from the ruffian who transfers his treasures from
the mines to the gambler's table to the frail fair one who
elieves the gambler's pocket for the benefit of her own.
Four times since I have been here—l wonder that it has
happened no oftener—differences of opinion, concerning,
no doubt, points of honour, have been summarily dis-
cussed and as summarily decided in these places by vir-
tue of a " five-shooter." Three times out of the four
the survivors experienced the pleasures of that prompt
decision which they had so warmly advocated. In less
than six hours after the quarrels the law of Judge Lynch
bad done its work and order was again restored. Such
is life in a new country.
Leaving San Francisco, I took my passage in a
steamer to the city of Sacramento, a large town, about
150 miles up the river, which bears the same name and
situated at the extreme point of inland navigation. A
day or two at this place sufficed to disgust me with a re-
petition of the scenes I had witnessed in San Francisco.
Accordingly, by the first opportunity that offered I took
my departure for Marysville, which, from its vicinity to
the various branches of the Sacramento river, is the
grand depot for all the miners of the wet " diggins " in
,Northern California, and consequently a __point of
interest to a sightseer. After %pendiag a pleasant even-
ing with the editor of the Mar y snit e Herald—who by-
ttnebye happened to be a genuine cockney, serving the
city of Mseesville in the several capacities of editor,
play-actor, concert-giver, and auctioneer—l started the
next morning for the " Forks of the Yubc." A :ew
hours' ritlo along the Spurs of the Sierra Neveda
brought me at last within sight of the goad hunters.
Two or area hundred men were at work upon
what had formerly bcea the bed of the river. By
the law of mutual agreement each miner is en-
titled to a certain portion of this " bar," as it is
called, in which the bold is found. And as the precious
metal cannot in such diggings be separated from the soil
without the process of washing, the allotments are mea-
sured by 30 feet on the bank of the river and so far back
as the bed extends—thus giving to each man his fair
allowance of water. Generally speaking the original
possessors have long since made their fortunes and sold
their claims to others for large or small sums, according
to the richness of the soil. The result is that these
claims are now falling into the hands of small compa-
nies of three or four, who, in their turn, will sell them,
as immigration increases, to companies of six or eight,
and so on. till the individual gains aro so small that the
price of labour falls and the capitalists become the sole
proprietors of the mines. Where three or four toge-
ther possess a " claim" each attends to his own de-
partment of the labour—one loosens the soil, another
fills the barrow or cart, a third carries it to the
river, and the fourth washes it in the " rocker." If the
dust is very fine, quicksilver is afterwards used to co

lect it from. the black sand. For the most part the
mining is above ground—i. e., the depth of the soil is
seldom more than six feet above the rock. In some
place➢ they are what they call " coyote diggins ;"
these produce tho same kind of dust, and are worked
like coal mines, having shafts sometimes as deep as 60
feet.

The average weight of gold raede by each miner
throughout the " wet diggins," cr diggins where water
is used for washing the geld, is nearly -lee, or 7 dolls. a
day. To give you an instance, however, of the amount
of metal in the soil, which I had from a miner on the
spot:—Three Englishmen bought a " claim," 30 feet by
100 feet, for 1,400 dells. It had been twice before bought
and sold for considerable sums, each party who sold it
supposing it to be nearly exhausted. In three weeks
the Englishmen paid their 1,400 dolls., and cleared 13
dolls. a day besides for their trouble. This " claim,"
which is not an unusually rich one, though perhaps it
has been more successfully worked, has produced in 18
months over 20,000 dolls., or 5,000/. worth of gold.
After all one had hoard of the dissipated habits and
questionable characters of the miners, I was prepared to
"rough it" during my visits to the mines, and when I
found myself about to pass a night in a small tent
designated the " miners' home,' in which over 40
of these gentlemen were assembled to drink, board,
and lodge, I cannot say that I anticipated much plea-
sure in the prospect of sleeping four in a bed, or being
at the " rude mercy" of a " crowd" of which I was the
only one unarmed. But, strange to say, I never saw a
more orderly congregation, or such good behaviour in
such bad company; and the only thing that disturbed
my peace was that one night the bunk in which I slept,
not being sufficiently strong to support its unusual bur-
den, yawned in the middle, and deposited its contents on
the ground. I returned to San Francisco, and thence I
went to the " dry diggins" in the south. The country
is hero truly beautiful, and, unlike the plains in the
great valley of the Sacramento, is exceedingly fertile and
capable of producing unlimited resources. Even in the
present drought its valleys are watered by frequent rivu-
lets, while throughout the arid nature of the soil, com-
bined with the uncertainty of the seasons, will prevent that
part of California ever becoming agricultural. Its mi-
ronlstatitu_
neral wealth is, perhaps, the greatest in the world. The
qaartz rock, which is supposed to bo the only permanent
toue from which gold will eventually be derived, ex-
tends north and south for more than a degree and a half
of f de
; and the quicksilver mines, now rendering
o,uoolb. to 4,0001 n. of metal daily, threaten to de-
stroy the
previous monopoly of the Rothschilds. At
Mariposa, in the district of the quartz, a society pos-
pease, machianer..y elanns"
sessing seve rl
have established, at a great ex-
men, whom they p for crushing the rock. They employ 30
month. This sooieaty at the me of 100 dollars each a
;al sets
YI tias now making a clear gain of
pl
~,,scOt
eod dolls.
whin a
Cdaapyi
work in the country. It is
will show you what is to be ex-
pected
of metal is
to
Inl toltfeclnaytiZzrk at present, the gold may be
difficult to say what the av7abgaet proportion
part,to th
ewphricohpoirstiao
taking only the richer
represented by 15 or 20, end the quartz hv 10
about one-fitth metal; and it is ascertained 0, making
that one-
iifceenth will pay. So much for statistica. I might enter
more fully into detail, or I might enlarge co ..
nstuerably
general views; but I think that you hare bad
on pretty
nearly enough of the one, and
II know that you are better
able than lem to perform the rest for yourself. In the
limited space of a letter it is difficult, where go much
may he, said, to say what is interesting and to leave un-
said what is not interesting; and more particularly in
writing to you it is no easy matter to make state-
ments
which, however new to moat people, you most
u
probably are already conversant with. The interest,
I,owever, which must be felt concerning California, and
the little that is at present known about it, must be my
only apology for so great a trial on your patience.
Imagine how anxious lam to bear some news, when I
tell epu
, my last letter from England is more than nine
months 01. t ! I have relictpii.hed the idea of South
UletieA, andproposeby the States instead.
On the 1-
15th I leave this by steamer for Acapulco; from
that point I shall ride through Mexico, and (D.V.)