Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1852-06-19

Icver since the discovery Of gold in California we
have had the question mooted, what will be the ef
feet commercially and socially OF large increase OF
that precious metal and the question has been dis
cussed with more intense interest since the mineral
wealth Of the gold fields Of Australia has been es-
fablisbed. We have watched the progress Of the
d;seuss;on with much interest," but until very lately
We id not perceive that the great increase Of gold
had produced any effect upon the commercial inte-
rests Of Great Britain nor, far as we could judge
had il caused any material alteration in those Of the
limited States These being the countries upon
whose territory the gold fields had been discovered,
and to whom, of course their produce belongs, they
would naturally be the first affected by the influx Of
gold; and to them we have looked for the first
symptoms Of diserdered currency, q arrangement
in the prices of produce and land, and show OF ne
oessity for adjustment Of the principles Of social
and mercantile intercourse. We are quite aware
that the increase Of gold with which we are threat
ened--for we regard such an increase more as an
evil than good, and that for many reasons; some
pertinent to and others having bearing upon our
present obiect-must have ultimately, and perhaps
before very long very disturbing effect upon labor,
price, suppy and demand, and almost every other ee
ment Of individual and national intercourse
al present 50 far rs respects this country the mere
fhct that the discovery Of gold n Australia has given
new direction TO the labor Of that couptry has rrespec-
tive Of the natare Of that direction mperled to great
degree the production Of raw material of the utmost
consequence of the principal branches Of British
manufacture. We Of course allude to wool, Of which
article the woollen manufacturers Of England need
nual supply from Australia amounting in value to two
million pounds this being the amount imported in 1850
1t has been declared upon high authority, at the public
meeting at Leeds and repeated by the deputaon to Lord
DERBY has been the attraction Of the gold mines
the shepherds and other persons connected with the
sheep focks in Australia that there is very great def
cheney Of shepherd labor and that there consequent
and extreme danger Of failure in the supply Of WOOL In
fact it is stated that unless great supply of shepherds
and shearers is almost Immediately sent out the clp
Of this years wool will be in danger Of being lost Last
years cp is said to be safe, and doubt portion
of this years will be rescued but requires very prompt
action provide the necessary number of hands to pre-
the manufacturers of wool from langushing for
supply Of the raw material Emigration must be
aged and assisted and the attention Of the Government
Board of Land and Emigration Commissioners has been
directed to the subject This board has at its dis
posal E2200 to be applied to the purposes Of emgra
on they have hitherto refused to send out any but agr
cultural aborers to Australia but the urgent need of the
colonists must compel them to abandon this policy which,
adopted long ago. is not applicable since the mighty
change effected by the discovery of the gold fields
of oil Sorts who can and will work, are wanted and
would imagine not require any very long training to
make of average intellect either tender of sheep
or shearer Of them and these are the men who are
wanted Other Of encouraging immigration at
work. Mrs. CHISHOLM and her coaduors doing all
they can The Highland and Island Emigration Society
also stirring ITSELF and it has for its object class of men
particularly well adapted for the emergency The High
land families furnish the very material for such an mmi
grafton as Australia now calls for.
In every point of view deficiency in the wool crop Of
Australia will be highly injurious The Australian Colo
MES required from England in 1850 nearly of
English goods but the less wool the colo
nsts have to sell the smaller quantity Of goods win they
be enabled purchase 1t is fact that there tens
Of thousands Of in Great Britain whose annual
sumption of English goods does not amount to 81 per
head while in Australia their circumstances would raise
them the average consumption Of that colony than
&c per head and the time their presence there
would the article of export from thence which
in so much danger Thus has occurred is very likely
to do So in the woolen manufacture the very contn-
gency which have often contemplated in that of
tom scarcity of the material arising from tenn
porary arrangement in the only country which supplies it.
60 Fortunately for the United States neither the disco
very Of gold in California any other probable conn
gency can derange any material branch of her
mercial mercantile system in the way the dis
covery of gold in Australia threatens to do most i'm
portant one Of Great Britain Your great staples Of
ton and tobacco viii not be diminished in quantity by any
diversion Of the labor necessary to produce them other
pursuits; nor will the demand for your cotton and
bacco be in any danger of decreasing long
Of British operatives and the employment Of untold CAPT.
tai depend upon the former, and nearly G5000,0o Of
Brtisb revenue is annually derived from the consumption
Of The latter Some Of your sgculturss may be seduc
ed from the plough and the barn to the profitable
which California affords but whilst as you
did in l847 you raise than 220 000 bushels
Of cereal grains and above your necessary onsump
don OF every kind you need not apprehend any material
arrangement Of your agricultural interests from the ope
raions Of the gold mania, however intensely and widely
it may range. ~
1t is singular coincidence that England and the Uni
ted States should thus be, at the me visited with
this discovery Of gold upon their respective territories
Much ingenious speculation might be evolved from this
fact and great variety Of conjecture nduged in to
the probable effects it will have upon the two countries
respectively All that shall venture to say about il at
present is that in opinion such effects will be very
widely II not Numerically dissimar arising from the
actual position and condition of the two nations. What
ever those effects may beand concerning them have
no precedent from which argue opror for do
not think the of Spain and the discovery Of the pre-
cous metals in Mexico and South America furnishes
we may venture to hope that there is and substance
enough both in Great Britain and the United States to
meet them with frmness and efficient remedy when
a. - on,o with