The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1852-04-29
The Gold Movements In California and
Austrnlia-Thc Prnspecf.


The Gold Movements In California and
Australia-Thc Prospect.
We publish this day, in other portions of this
paper, the latest Intelligence from the gold mines
of Calilonia and Australia and very interesting
statistical article from gentleman in the Treasury
Department, upon the worlds periodical supply of
the precious metals. since the discovery Of this
tinent We commend them all to readers at
tcntion, and propose herein word or two upon the
vast and comprehensive tendencies of things, from
the present and prospective abundance of the single
article of gold in the markets of the world.
The last accounts from the mines of California and
Australia are of the most striking importance, in
view of the al-powerful, worldwide impulse which
will be given to commerce and emigration 1t is but
yesterday that California and Australia were almost
uninhabitod deserts; and now, from their imitable
of wealth, they speedily threaten to revo
lutionize the entire circle of human affairs through
out the habitable globe. Already the golden sands
of our own apparently inexhaustible FL Dorado are
ruling not less the hnanciers Of England and the
Continent, than they controlling the opera
tons of Wall street. But, that that terra incognita
of the antpodes-that dreaded and mysterious con-
Wet colony Of England in the far South Sea-shoud
so deliberately dcvelope within itself the golden
sources Of another California, is positively startling.
But while it has ceased to stagger creduly the
fact only the deies all aritkn,etica conjec
tural estimates of the mighty results Of these new
di scovcries for the future. We cannot compass the
proposition; for if such as have seen have been
the astounding consequences of the mines Of Cali
fonia alone what is to limit the effects of Australia
and California combined!
The estimates Of the mines of Australia for the
ensuing year, from the actual returns of the gold
exported up 70 the last advices, cover the
aggregate of sixty to eighty millions Of dollars.
Our last returns from California authorize an esti-
mate of sum total for the year equally large in
that quarter, and wholly unprecedented in the his
tory Of the mines of America. From New Mexico,
from Old Mexico, from Central America, from
South America, from Russia and from Africa. and
elsewhere, the grand aggregate for the year 1852,
of the yield Of silver and gold viii probably exceed
and considerably exceed, the highly respectable
figure Of $500, coo ,000-two hundred millions Of dol
lars, This annual addition to the precious metals
Of the world, may lie the better appreciated by q
comparison with the annual averages OF gold and
silver added to the common stock II vhe periods be-
fore these latest discoveries From Tie discovery Of
America, from Which Spain was almost as by magic,
raised to position of uneyamplgd riches and mug
niiieonco by the wealth Of She new world down to
1908, the annual average Of the aggregate yield of
gold and silver mines Of The world did not exceed
$1,000, coo, for The whole intervening period From
1903 to 1852, it has not exceeded s6o,0oo,ooo in
Guiding the extraordinary u ors of gold from Cali
fornia Sin ISiS. And yet FOR 1852, the grand ag
grogate is set down as very likely to exceed, and
largely to exceed, the splendid Of 900 900 900.
How is this difference to be provided forl What
immense effects is il not destined to bring about
for The mere increase is nothing, and amounts to
nothing, if il is destined to effect nothing.
The true value of the mines of California and Aus
ralia is not in the mere additional amounts OF gold
which they throw into the banks and the hands of
the money-ehangers on both sides Of the Atlantic;
nor is il in the increase OF a metallic crcula-
ton, to the exclusion of so much Of a worthless,
rotten, shinplaster currency; but the true value of
the vast gold products Of California and Australia
as developed and as still to be developed, il, and
will be, in the impetus which they give to COM
merce cmi grafton, and labor, and every department
Of labor in every quarter of the world Cola may
be the root of all evil; but in this day, it is
phaieally the pioneer and the missionary Of civil
cation and Christianity. II builds M the new and
desert places, and replcnishes the old. 1t gives
culture, to science, the fine arts, philosophy,
refinement, and religion, at the same time.
And the resultc Of these last discoveries are
likely to prove even greater in giving new i'm
pulse to the movements of mankind thar even the
tremendous events which followed the discovery of
America The mighty exodus which poured, and
which continues to pour, from Europe, upon our
shores, since Columbus revealed a world 10 the
,.lol .kl
new age What with ,the startling energy and
activity, and spirit Of emigration, which the mines
Of Aus:raa and C.lifoInia will give to the eastern
shores osunmessured Asia and her countless popu
laton, Lay rast aTchipelegos Of unnumbered islands,
and those islapd empires, ard continental islands
rich in the richest products Of the earth, which
flank her upon every side; and what with the ilmit
able commerce which will yhitrn and blacken
the Pacific between Asia and America, we may
safely predict such general movement Of mankind
as the world has not yet dreamed of; as the
widest and wsest oriental imag inaton would fail
TO reach or to comprehend. We mag predictit, for
the fulhlment ia at hand.
Within few years we shall have lines of steam
ers piyng regularly between san Francisco, |
the Sandwich Islands, japan, and China: and /
lines, also, between Panama aAd Australia.
US the acedicst route frem England: and /
these viii open the way to IN immediate
traffic with the hundreds OF millions Of the cottoa
less natives Of TIE oriental nations and islands Of
A sia, and the adjacent The Chinese aud other
1siatics omigrating to the mines Of California aud
Australia, if only Tor a season, win return with /
romctbing more than gold. They viii take back
The English language, the IDEAS and usases Of civil.
ged life, and the elementary principles Of civilized
,ystems Of government and Of the Christian rolf
,ion. Thus will the barriers Of pagaaisn aud scm;-
laIbarlfm be broken down BY native missionaries.
Do the other hand, from Europe, and ALEC from tho
United States, tho substra,um VI . mighty empire
q Australia will Re established Tie language, The
avs, aud the customs Of tho Anglo Saxon stock