The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-13 00:00:00

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. . . The following letters, which are published by the
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cial correTendent, • supply the • latest intelligence
from Fraser River :
" Fort Yale, Aug. 19. 't
" The. river Juts, rival about a foot since ,yester.
day. The weather has been extremely warni. About -)
an hour ago (10 p.m.).= it commenced raining. ILL ;
spite of the, high water, 'all up the river who are
mining are in good spirits. Why don't some_a.the
capitithsts- down in your place. come .p.p Here and
purchase 'gold dust P No one here purchased it, evert
at 15 dols.--the storekeepers, because they would.
have to go belay to sell it, and the company, for
some reason best known to themselves. I ha4c seers
any quantity of men come in and try to sell -their
dust at almost any price.
- There are now five sluices in operation here, and
they pay on an average 25 dols. to the men. I think
this is under the mark however. I received a letter
from-Capt. Snyder this-morning, in which he states
that on reaching the ferry, or below the Rancheria,
they were seen by the Indians, who left and ran .‘
down the river. He went after them, with the
captain of the French company and an interpreter,
and induced the Chief to have a talk with them.
He took them some two miles down the river, when,
on giving a whoop, some 200 Indians made their
appearance from amongst the rocks and out of the
ravines. Capt. Snyder explained to them that he
had come up to make peace with them—to punish A.
those who had shot and robbed the whites, and, as
this tribe had not been engaged in the troubles, to merely give them notice that the white men were 3
0
in arms, and determined not to be further molested; T
that whilst they would punish those who did . )
wrong, in return he would guarantee that on a .
white man's molesting them he should be likewise
punished, on their informing him or any of the -1
miners. The Indians were well pleased at this. -
This morning the whole of the force, numbering
some 180 men., left for the Upper Canon, where the
Indians belong who have been long engaged in
waylaying and shooting the miners. Here it is his
intention to demand the guilty ones ; if delivered
up, they will be tried and punished; if a refusal to
do so is made, there will be but short work made
with them. There were some 500 men at the Ran-
cheria, the most of whom had come down from the
upper diggings. Flour is selling here at from 14
dols. to 15 dols. ; hams at 55c., &c. Three or four
gambling-houses are in full blast night and day.
Frame houses are going up in all directions ; they
numbered some 30 to-day. lam off at daylight in
the morning for the Rancheria, and from thence, if
possible, I shall go up the river as far as La Fon-
taine. "T. W. G.
" P.S. Aug. 20.—Twenty-five men started out
this morning to go to work on the trail."
" Fort Hope, Aug. 13.
" I arrived here yesterday from Fort Yale, with -
the intention of going to Victoria, but I found
thin6s as cheap at Fort Hope as I could get them
at Victoria. I was at the Big Canon on the 11th,
and the miners are doing well. I brought down 500
dollars of the prettiest dust that I have ever seen.
Mr. Ballou's agent told me that it would be worth
18 dollars in San Francisco. I saw Mr. Pike, on
Pike's Bar, and he was making from 7 to 11 ozs.
per day to the rocker. Mr. Reddey, on Hiyou Bar,
was making from 7 dols. to 10 dols. per day. All
the way up the river they are doing well. Please
excuse further.

PRICE 4D• STAMPED, SD.

that Lord-Derby did more than he promised.- sir
G. C. Lewis,- who had held the honourable office of
Chancellor of the 'Exchequer, and was a man of
great education, had lately stated that no Reform
Bill would. he acceptable which did not savour
strongly of democracy. He (Sir H.. Stracey) did
not 'exactly understand this, as he did not see how
any limit to. democracy was to be secured. As far
as he understood democracy it meant the govern-
ment of the people, and- he looked upon this as
leading at any rate to the indulgence of the wildest
passions without any. guard whatever ; he there-
fore looked upon democracy and revolution as syno-
nymous terms. He did not believe that Lord
Derby would ever dream of introducing a bill
leading to democracy without limitation, but he
had not the slightest doubt that his lordship's bill
would have a liberal tendency—that it might even
tend to lower the franchise and give members in
proportion to the population of the country. It
might have liberal tendencies of this kind ; and
he (Sir Henry Stracey) candidly told them, that
if he were in Parliament, and if the Reform
Bill introduced included the ballot, he shoUld be
only too- glad to support the measure. The ques-
tion of the ballot was one which Conservatives
had always looked on with horror, and he must
acknowledge that noone had a stronger feeling than
he had on the subject. He had felt that the 'in-
fluence of property ought always to be felt, that it
ought to be known how that property was repre-
sented—that is, how persons voted ; and he had
also considered that property would not have its
proper influence if vote by ballot were established.
But he had now had a certain amount of experience
in social and political life ; he had been engaged in
two elections ; he had fought one contest single-
handed, and as far as his experience went upon the
latter occasion, he had been led to the conclusion
that the Conservative cause could not have been
injured by the ballot. He was quite convinced
that the Conservative cause not only in Norfolk
but throughout the country could not be injured by
the ballot, if honesty of principle were to prevail
without that abominable thing called the " screw."
(Hear.) Of this he was quite sure, that the present
laws at any rate did not prevent corruption, which
had been general throughout the country ; and
could things be worse with the ballot ? He very
much doubted whether they would not be a great
deal better, and he thought the experiment was well
worth a trial. If an honest man had an opportunity
of exercising his judgment freely, he believed the
Conservative cause, in consequence of the exercise
of that honesty, would be in the end a gainer. Pos-
sibly some of them might not agree with him on
this subject ; but Lord Stanley, who, as had been
ably observed, was a government in himself, had
voted for the measure—so that at any rate he was
not forming a very erroneous judgment; and he
felt himself justified from personal experience in
&daring himself in favour of the ballot. Sir
Henry, m conclusion, proposed " The Health of
the Chairman."
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks.
Subsequently Mr. J. G. JOHNSON responded to
the toast of" The Magistracy," and entered a strong
protest against the ballot. Referring to Lord
Derby's anticipated measure of reform, Mr. Johnson
expressed his conviction that it would give numbers
their proper influence, property a proper influence,
and station a proper influence ; while at the same
time it would not seek to over-ride the independent
will of the Sovereign, nor to swamp the House of
Lords, which had often proved the safeguard of
England. (Cheers.)
Several other toasts were given in the course of
the evening.

Fort Yale, Aug. 16.
The weather has been intensely hot since I wrote
you last, and, as a consequence, the river has gone
up about 20 inches in the past three days, stopping
many from working. The reports from all the bars
below here were highly encouraging ; at Hill's,
Texas, and one or two other bars, the amounts taken
out have varied from 10 dols. to 90 dols. to the man.
On Hill's Bar they took out on last Friday 723 ozs.,
as I am informed by Mr. Ballou, of the Express,
and this he believes was short of the total amount.
This was the product of about 150 rockers. At
Texas Bar the sluices are paying largely. Above
here all who were at work were doing well. Olt
most of the bars the water is yet too high to work
to advantage. Dry diggings have been discovered
about eight miles from here, on the east side of the
river. Some parties started over there up the
ravines on Friday last, and on their return re,
ported that they had found the colour, and.
good prospects at that, on every hill, um
at last struck good diggings. They show
me 3 dols. 62c., the product of 24 pans. lII@4
gold was coarse:, with quartz intermixed, and was
a fair specimen of placer gold. It created quite a
sensation when exhibited in Ballou's Express-of4eo
here, and though it was not found out exactly, where
it came from, the place is known. In fact, I know
that in a short time dry diggings will be found—
and rich ones, too—within ten miles, all &round
here. I bought the gold, and shall send ate Sah
Francisco, as-the first gold that has been found off
the river. From Messrs. Calmels and Moran, who
were of a party of 14 who went up the Harrison
river route, I learn that there were about 250 men
mining above the Forks. The water was high.
Some 40 head of cattle had come into Fort Dale
at the Forks, beef from which was selling at oge,,
per pound ; and yesterday I learned that a party of
some 300, with cattle and horses, had arrived at the
Forks from Oregon. On all the bars below the,
Canon the miners were doing well, many making
as high as three ounces per day, many not making.
more than 7 dols. or 8 dols.

Fort Hope, Aug. 21.
I left Victoria on Wednesday morning at seven
o'clock. No provision being made on the Otter for
breakfast or dinner, passengers should provide
themselves accordingly. At two p.m. we trans-
ferred ourselves and our freight on board the Uma-
tilla. Having a great many goods for the trail
cutters, we did not cast off until near sunset. Could
not enter the river until morning. There being
between 56 and 60 passengers, we spread ourselves
and slept comfortably, although the floor (our bed)
was rather crowded. Two meals per diem were
furnished at one dollar each, and they were really
good, fresh beef, salmon, potatoes, tomatoes, &c. I
should remark, en passant, that a little more atms
tion to the wants of those on board would be pro.
perly appreciated. The Sea Bird is nearly ready
for launching. The reports which may reach you
of dead bodies found floating down the river are
true. On Murderer's Bar (suggestive name !) there
are about a dozen substantial log houses, and we
saw the miners at work with cradles—report says
paying well. The river seems at a stand—neither
falling nor rising. Many, very many, are leaving,
not so much discouraged as frightened. The Go.
vernment must protect those from whom they exact
the pay for so doing. Give the miners less pre.
mises and more safety.

GOLD -VINING IN VICTORIA.

The old and desultory mode of gold seeking in
the colony of Victoria is fast giving way to more
regular and scientific proceedings. The few years I,T.
which have elapsed since the discovery of the pre-
dons metals have sufficed to elear off the surface
deposits and those portions of gold which lay im-
mediatelybelow them. Regular mining operations
have now become necessary, in order to extract the "
precious metal, and for such a state of things the
old regulations of the miners have of course become
_,s3
totally inapplicable. The great success of the Clunes
ehcoagnssoisceiabtuiotnws,ashas_
mining copartnership, formed under very unfavour-
able circumstances and subjected to many unneces-
sary burdens consequent upon the state of tthoe.alcaewr:
The old shown
tonly p failedosed
tot
such
can be conducted ,tinT.
thattaiwii regular extent
tar mining operations
with great profit.
and washing alluvial drifts. system. of hunting for
ally abandoned is, in fact, being gradu-
ally
increasingas uncertain and unsatisfactory, and -
a little number
.. of those who have made up
their minds to a life on. the gold fields, and who have •
capital to start with, are preparing to betake
themselves to systematic quartz crushing. That
there is still much gold left among the ordinary
workings there can be no doubt, and the occasional
discovery of such monster nuggets as that which
was recently turned up, will always keep some
miners sinking and burrowing for them. Butthese
great prizes are few, while the blanks drawn in the. „-
lottery are many. The steady and certain profits' L'3
of continued attention to quartz crushing have at- ,-.713
tractions for those who prefer a safe calculation to ft
risk, while. the pursuit is not altogether destitute of _
the exe-itement of great and sudden gains. There
have 'been some yields from quartz quite as surpris-
ip.:g and satisfactory as the discovery of many of the
' exhibition nuggets. Starting from small beginnings,
often a failure at first from the expensiveness and
inefficiency of the machinery employed, quartz -
crushing is assuming daily greater dimensions, and
promises completely to eclipse in its results the
achievements of former years and of common
digging. It will add to the stability of the colony
and confirm its reputation for wealth; for, as the
quantity of auriferous quartz is practically inex.
haustible, not only will the annual yield be in_
creased, but it will be assured and made reliable.
Great fluctuations in the amount of gold produce&
will be avoided, and the value of the yearly export-,
will be sufficiently determined to be relied upon bye
commercial men with tolerable certainty. The
legislature has at length recognised the change in --
the methods of working the gold fields that is talk-- :aar
jug place, and laws have been passed to regulate?, 10
mining partnerships as well as to grant leases of ,
sufficient areas of auriferous land to justify the im--
-portation and erection upon them of adequate
machinery.—Australian and .Yew Zealand Gazette.

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