The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1877-01-05

was the true standpoint of the British Fl

/ Columbus, as with his pinks and earavek
be forced his way through weed beds ant
battling winds to the Western Indies, eoulG
not have guessed that the result of his ad
] vsnturoass voyage would be. an extraordina
! ryrise in prices, ,or, what comes to the same
thing, a fall in the purchasing power ol
| Messy ranging from 90 to 80 per cent
The large supplies of silver which the
Spanish discoveries poured into Europe af
! fseted every market from the Baltic. to the
Black Sea, and was gradually felt wherever
men bought and sold, from China to Con-
naught. sas@la So :.
Silver fell in value, and gold, which had
hitherto been coined In inconsiderable
quantities, and chiefly by such mighty mer.
chant commonwealth as those Of Genoa,
Florence, and Venice, began to be with
drawn from ornamental purposes to supply
she royal mints. Everywhere the familiar
asetal lost much of its intrinsic worth. The
cid crusade, the French crown, the London
sterling could not buy what they had
bought, before that inquisitive Geneese ex-
pFcred the ocean highwayto the Atlantis oi
the poets. 9 onlys Japan, jealousy shut
against Western iintruders,, remained out
side the commercial brotherhood of nations
and when, some years since, Japanese ports
were first opened by treaty some Of our
merchants in feverish haste reaped enor-
naous but short-liVed profits by dealing with
customers who appraised silver according
20 the value set upon it by local usage. 10
The great accumulation of silver piate,
and in France even or silver furniture,
which existed in the 18th and 17th centd-
ries, often supplied the sinevs OF war in
ssne of need. More than once d king hard
pressed could raise a fresh army by per
suading his mobiles to send their plate tothe
melting pot. That huge hoard 'oY bullion
has long since disappeared, and the mints
Of most countries have FOR many years in
CURED heavy loss in consequence Of the ne
eessity of making good the perpetual rub
bing away of a portion of the substance Of
shilling, franc, and forin.
Az 10 kCfTldIRUkC eGs&b LILO CtlaJ CChIuPReIn
OF Peru and Mexico, when riffing the treas
aries Of the native monarch, came upksn
much gold, bat little silver. The mines Of
those countries whence came full half OF
the whole known stock of bullion, have
under Spanish ruie furnished very little
gold, but great deal Of silver. So late as
the reign Of George the Second the london
Gazette represents all Europe as breathless-
ly waiting till she King Of Spain should
issue the royal permission to unload the in
gots and bars tying in the galleons at an
ctas off Cadiz or Vigo, and afford to the
trades Of foreign countries what was really
the lise-blood of commerce. One Mexican
silver mine, the property of Count Regla,
brought in for twenty years net profit of
a million sterling, and there were mines ia
Chilli and Peru which produced, each of
them, silver to the amount Of several httnt
dred pounds year. 80"
The amount of gold raised since the first
Californian nuggets were picked from the
erevices of a quartz reef thirty years ago is
roughly reckoned as equalling that of all
the gold then ia circulation. 1t says much
Of ssr eiviiza.
tien that prices have not actually doubled
within that time. As regards silver we
have, since the discovery Of America, aes
ceived about as much as was in human
hands in the reigns ef the later Plantagen-
cts; but the waste has been much greater
than in che case OF gold, and the demands
OF India and China have fer fifty years
been serious drain on the resources OF
Europe. T.
The legendary wonders OF .Potosi ana
Mazataplan seem likely to be surpassed, in
our own times, by the extraordinary yield
Of that Rocky Mountain range which, under
various names, forns the backbone of North
America. Itis matter OF notoriety that
within few months past unexampled
profits have been resped by lucky specula-
tors, and that many million ounces Of VIZ
gin ore have. been extracted from the stony
hillsides. Of Wyoming, Nevada and Idaho
TIE. Chilian and Peruvian mines were
chiefly of enormous depth, liable to be
flooded, and situated amid volcanic rocks,
whose hardness and the scarcity of fuel
rendered it costly to work them. The
Rocky Mountain silver mines, chiefly in
crumbling transition rock, are easy to
work, and present rich veins in tempting
proximity to the surface, while labor, ma
chinery and capital are all forthcoming.
The gain of one is, unhappily, very often
the loss Of the another, and European
countries feel, in the pressure Of high pri-
ces and taxation, the indirect consequences
of the wonderful discoveries of silver, which
in America have given competence to many
and to some sudden wealth. India suffers
yet more severely, for her rupee has within
a year or two lost tenth Of its official val
ne nor, indeed, is it easy to fix limit to
the probable effects of the abrupt influx of
silver. - .s
Amusement.of Burmese aayalty. re
T-TTisyT ----g .z5E.
From the London. Echo.
The King of Burmah, has mounted
twenty -four guns on his mud parapets.
These are real guns, so that the 200 or 300
wooden dummies :" need not be referred
to-. One ofthe bona 1ade cannon is q Krupp,
of which His Majesty Of the Golden Foot
;s naturaIIv nroud He has lately amused