The daily national Whig. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1847-1849, 1849-01-04

operation Of the sleeves will separate the gold
from the slick. We throw out this hint for
the consideration Of inventors. They will,
doubtless, improve upon it, il it is pratt
cable, as we think il is. The washing
process as tedious, and no matter how
great the care, great losses viii inevitably
occur. The use Of quicksilver is undoubt-
edly the most productive means that can be
employed, but that involves the outlay Of
capital. The great object Of inventors should
be to find out some means for separating the
ore from the earth without the necessity OF
employing capital God has scattered gold
over this portion Of his earth with bounteous
hand, and in such form that il can be had
by the mere exertion Of human labor, using
the most rude and simple processes Of sepa-
ration; and il is not the province Of man to
hinder his fellow-man from having free ac-
cess to this treasure, or to clog the exercise
Of physical labor in separating il from the
earth by the use Of machines that will re-
quire heavy capital for their construction and
operation.
The purity Placer Gold has been proved
to be very nearly twenty-lour carats fine,
the standard Of perfect gold. We think
that the. ore in the matrix, in the Snowy
Mountains, will be found TO be equal to
pure gold. At all events, analogy leads to.
this inference.
Who shall exercise the rights Of property
over the gold lands of California '--is a
question that must sooner or later be met
Our own opinion is, that they should be
treated by the United States as common
property, until the mineral they contain shall
be exhausted, il exhaustible it, be if not,
let them ever remain common property
The very fact Of the impossibility Of APP
proprating them under any Of the ordinary
forms Of human law or coercion, ought to be
regarded as an argument in favor Of leaving
them open to every body who may desire to
extract the treasure they contain. We
should as soon think Of appropriating given
area Of the Atlantic or Pacific oceans, as to
think Of extending the laws Of property over
the California gold fields Indeed, the form
er would be a more easy task, because there
would be no temptation for the guardians
themselves Of the area, melted out as mare
clausunl, to desert their posts, and so long as
force sufficient were present It could main
tain the authority Of law over the prescribed
space. But in any attempt that would be
made, by government or individuals, to exer-
else rights Of property over the gold placers
of California, no possible good result could
ensure The treasure is not confined to a
small district, nor to even q large district,
but it is extended over vast territory,
whose area is seventy-fve thousand square
miles. An army of half million of men
would exert no more powerin preventing the
digging for treasure, than ten men could,
because all the restraints Of law, holding to-
gether an armed force, would fail in the pre-
sence Of the temptation at their right hand.
The enactment Of laws to survey, lay out
and sell these treasure bearing lands, would
be of no avail whatever, for nobody would
buy that which he knows he cannot keep an
hour, and which he can get and occupy
without buying it. If the attempt be made
by the government to blockade the ports Of
egress on the coast, and compel the payment
OF tithe Of the treasure found on board Of
all outgoing vessels, it will prove to be
equally futile, Tor the diggers and buyers Of
gold, in that event, would seek market for
their treasure in Mexico or the United States,
by journey overland, with all its dangers,
which no power ON earth could prevent
The question Of appropriating these lands is
an entirely new one, because it is question
Of preventing human labor from obtaining
that which represents the value Of human
labor, by the mere exertion Of that labor,
and uncombined with capital.
Congress will have difficult problem to
solve in approaching this question. We
hope they will disconnect iffrom the ques-
ton OF labor itself, that now binders, with so
much injury to the people Of California, the
extension Of ordinary laws over that region.
1t seems to us that the question in what
form human labor shall be permitted by law
to exist in California, is settled beyond the
probability Of changing it One hundred
thousand white men, at least, will inhabit
the vallies Of gold, before the beginning Of
March next, and men chiefly from the moth
eastern States, ltsrequires no prophet to
foretell under what form, they will permit
labor to exist under the government Of their
own choice.
Meantime, we trust that the present Con-
gress will dispose of this question, so far as
regards the new Territories, and particularly
as regards the gold country, with satisfaction
to all parties 1t can be done, if members
will only realize the danger to arise from
persisting in extreme opinions. Compro-
mise is the basis Of our Union, and Of all our
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