Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1850-1859, 1851-11-12

I lsSarleS OF every Sclentluc aSsOclatlou III u
f world, and never till now have been di
E covered! How ignorant is man with a
$ his learning! He stupidity stumbles ovt
hills of gold, to reach rare pod, or riff
bird S nest"
: A recent letter from San francisco
, says: "You will believe me when | sa
that for some time to come, California wi
export yearly, nearly or quite half mi
/, lion ounces of gold, % or "a carats fine
some pieces of that gold will weigh IL lbs
very many, h."
The latest intelligence from this golde
land docs not vary the state of things fror
that here laid down. Thousands are still
vigorously digging the hard rocks or wash
ing the fine sand, and adding millions o
dollars to the circulating medium of th
world. A miner lately brought to Sa1
Francisco, a single lump worth $500
Every vessel that leaves a California port
has its share Of gold dust; and thC
mines seem to be no nearer exhaustion
now, than when the first handful was ia
ken from them.-Such is California, with
her rich soil and unbounded wealth. Such
a country is destined to perform part in
the worlds progress, no less distinguished
for its singularity, than for its vast impor-
tance.
III. Morally. A greedy search after
lucre, must ever be attended with moral
debasement In such an employment,
the finer feelings of our nature, whose ex-
ercise involves our own happiness and that
of our fellows, are crushed in their rising /;
and the most sordid and selfish passions
which can move the human breast, make
their subjects the veriest of slaves. From
the day when Capt Suffers mill race
washed out the shining particles, the pre-
vailing idea in California has been, "goid."
Those who were in possession of splendid
farms, yielding their utmost proportion to
the labor bestowed upon them, suffered their
crops to lie unharvested, while they Sc:
out for the mines. Half the houses in
every town were vacant, and nearly all the
male population joined the scramble for
the precious metal Such an utter aban-
dorment of family ties, social enjoyments
and legal restraints, could not but exert
deplorable influence. The thousands who
arrived from the States, strong in moral
principle, were drawn into the same pre-
dominant spirit; and contempt for law
and disregard Of individual obligation,
caused alike by the force of example and
the nature of things, was the exhibition of
California society. At the mines, no law
but that of self-defence was recognised.
Differences were settled in summary, and
sometimes sanguinary manner, on the spot.
Every man did that which WIS right in his
own eyes In the towns, there were none
to require law but women and if they
sometimes transgressed the bounds of good
order, there were no officers to administer
the law. All had given themselves up to
the thirst for treasure, and with it, had
yielded to Its demoralizing tendency.
This state of things, Independent of the
presence of gold, brought thither class
of men, whose disposition and practice
found unbridled play there. Crowds of
men who had figured in the haunts of vice
from Boston to New Orleans, made their
way to land where they had no fear of a
Police Court, and no check to their nefa-
rious pursuits. 1t is true, that men Of the
highest responsibility and unquestionable
swelled the population of Cali
fornia: but very many Of these found a
society already formed for them into which
hey were not reluctant to enter, though |
1t the sacrifice of all their previous princi-
PIES. Virtue for gold, was the barter; and
Driskly was the trade carried on. Never
heless, the increasing immigration from
New England and the Middle States
infused a conservative element into this
.emarkable community. A relapse from
and a restoration to right
,abits, gradually appeared. Many who
lad come to California as traders and arti-
ANS, were Eot so deeply imbued with the
pirit of avarice and they, locating in the
owns, gave countenance to more stable
md reliable population. Still, society
etained the form of the mould in which
t had been first cast. Many man awokc
rom his fairy dream to find himself a
moral wreck amid heaps of glistening gold.
gifted, transatlantic pen has painted
his picture, as if from very life:
.sGald many hunted, swca. and ble1 for gold
Walked ali the night, and labored all the day:
And what this nllurement, 6ost thou ask!
A dust dug from the bowels OF the earth,
Which, being cast into the fire, came out
A shining thing tha; fools admired, and called
A god; aud on its altar offered up
Their souls, and an eternity OF bliss,
To gain them-what, an hour Of dreaming JOY,
A feyeri-h hour that hasted to be done,
And ended in the bitterness Of woe"
Those who had been exemplary Christians
n their Atlantic homes, here transferred
heir worship to Plutns and Bacchus.
was the change wrought
n the minds of men, by the Unsuitable,
ll-engulphing love of gold. In time, the
asst influx into San Francisco established
omething like regular society, and greater
were presented to observe
hose laws which regulate civilized COM
nunity. But the settlement of Eastern
aen, the introduction Of business habits,
he establishment of churches, have not
ret done all that would make California
,reat in point of moral worth, as she is in
ountless wealth. There is looseness OF
be moral code, and contempt for the
ourse of law, which savors not of civiliza-
r-lA...k The su6icial do