The Lancaster gazette. [volume] (Lancaster, Ohio) 1863-1886, 1864-04-21
The Emperor OF the French ana the
Mines OF California.

Chicago, Aug. 9th, occurs the follow.
ing:
l Irepeat here now what I have said
before, that believe the greatest dan
ger the country has to fear, and has
had to fear, is the intervention and in.
reference Of the F! ench Emperor; and
my impression is, had the battle Of
Gettysburg been lost us, to-day the
Southern Confcderacy would have been
recognized by that power, and received
help as an independent power. think
there is no living man who better un.
derstands the condition Of our South.
ern borders, Mexico, Central America
and our western coast, than docs the
Emperor Of the French When some
nine years agoI had occasion 10 visit
California and Oregon, on seeking for
geography and description Of the
country, and particularly Of the gold
regions, the best extant / could find
was from the pen Of Napoleon, written
before he came to the throne, and from
that time on | have been of the opin-
ion that when the right time came
Napoleon would be found interfering
with Mexico, and that all the reason
for it was, that while England, had her
attention directed toward Australia
and America toward California, France
had not a gold-bearing country, and
she therefore coveted the wealth ot
Mexico, and from that day to this ]
have regarded with deep interest the
operations of Napoleon in Mexico. !
have found but few who sympathized
with me in this view, but we now see
that lie waited till our country was en-.
gagged in war before he began to ope.
rate, and | have but little doubt thai
this rebellion had never commenced
had ;here not been given secret pledges
of the help Of foreign powers.
While in California last Fall,
thought ] would visit the Territory oi
Nevada, tOsce something Of the wealth
of that country, and ] was surprised
to find the best papers written on the
subject of the resources and wealth oI
Nevada, were from the pen of the
agentof Louis Napoleon / saw again
the footsteps of the French Emperor
there, and thought he was looking tc
see what degree of wealth could be
found in case the United States should
in time be dissolved. That wealth
comprises that which the nations Of
the world never have yet contcnded
for. Were the debt of our nation tc
amount to 20,000,000,000 OF dollars
there is wealth enough there, when om
debt is paid off, to give every soldier
who returns from our battle-fields
muskets of silver instead Of iron, Zap
plause), and when our on-clads come
back from the scenes of victories be.
fore Charleston and Mobile. and have
swept away the defences of Whining.
ton, when the iron-clads come back
into our harbor, there shall be silver
enough left to plate those boats more
heavily than they are now plated with
iron. | do not speak now from idle
speculation, but speak OF that wealth
from observation and actual calcula,
ton. When in California l visited the
mines, and l thought the time would
come when they would be exhausted
but in the mines of Nevada there are
no such indications visible. The more
the mines are worked the richer they
yield. The extent of the lodges con,
tanning the precious metal no man has
yet been able to measure, will men
ton a single instance, to give YOU
some idea Of the ineXhaustible supply
In what is termed the Ophir mine, F.;
single lead. as it is termed there, j.
fifty five feet in thickness. and incline:
only at an angle of five degrees
Think Of the extent of that-nearly as
far as from this altar to yon wall
This is all silver mingled with gold
There is more gold in value than sill
yer. but more silver in weight than
gold. The company have only two
hundred feet working, and out of that
they are now realizing about ten thou
sand dollars day. There is this pc.
culiarity about it, that the deeper
the mine extends, the richer and moro
profitable it becomes, When l wa:
there, they had penetrated two hun.
dred feet There were five chambers
which they had dug out, one under
the other. leaving large pillars to sup.
port the roof. They would sink q
Shaft down about forty feet, make
another platform, dig out the metal
leaving pillars as before, and then sinl,
another. One of the Directors told
me that each layer platform gavo as
much yield as all the other platforms
combined-that is, the fifth platform
was as valuable as the four above il
put together. Such wealth was never
a matter Of contest among all the pow
ers of earth before.
We must look to this. How shall
we protect our mines? How shall we
protect California? 1t is almost as
easy, not quite, to ship vessels of war
and munitions from France and Eng
land as from our eastern ports. When
Northern capitalists came together in
convention and asked for railroad
through what is termed the middle
Route" TO the Pacific, the Southern
people clamored for Southern rail
road to the Pacific. How shall we
place our armies there2 Our popuIa-
ton in California numbers but little
over three hundred thousand, possibly