Richland beacon., 1881-05-21
Prupor,iunatc valuc of

l~7l. NdGtn IL lN.'bNZ lIltt loih
The Chicago MtD-OcCan. i'll repro
ducing the above table. SAYS: Exactly
what has occasioncd the relative increase
IN value of gold and the decrease i'll
value of silver as compared with gold,
it is extremely difficult to say The cx
PLANTATION usually given by writers on
the subject, and doubtless the true ex-
PLANTATION, is that it was caused hv the
discovery Of the silver mines i'll Mexico
and Perm bv the Spaniards, and the enor-
nous increase III the worlds stock Of
silver which followed the opening of
those mines. \ considerable period
elapsed after America began to pour its
silver wealth upon Europe before this
consequence was clearly manifested. but
il gradually operated until. from rcquir-
ing a little more than eleven ounces Of
silver to equal in value an ounce Of gold,
an ounce of gold became worth over tif
teen ounces of silver 4 state of ap-
proximatc equilibrium had been reached
in the eighteenth century, and the oscil
lations i'll the price Of silver for long
time ranged within a narrow margin
above fifteen. Anew and more rapid de-
doubt. resulted in part from the discovery
If immense veins Of silver in Nevada
and the production theretrom of silver
bullion at n rate never before witnessed,
and in part from the dcmonctization of
silver by Germany, followed shortly after
by the practical prohibition of its further
coinage blythe States of the Latin Union.
The decentralization Of silver by the
United States III 1873 had little, if any.
influence in deprcciating silver. For
many years silver had not been i'll circu-
lation here, and the action Of the govern
mcnt threw no silver upon the market.
Ii Germany had been a country without
actual silver in circulation, and using only
irrcdecmabc paper. it might have de-
monetized silver III the nominal and theO-
'etical manner i'll which that act was per-
formed here. aud no consequence what
ever in the bullion market would have
followed. 1t was the fact that the action
of Germany threw hundreds Of millions
of that metal on the market. which gave
it Importance, and. with the immense
production Of the Comstock lode, led to
sharp decline in bullioH.-Ercha,0e.
AMONG "thingsnot generally known" is
the fact. vouched for by Lucian Herbert
in rcceht issue Of the .iHycmcinc
Zcjt,mg. that the late Emperor Napo-
leon III. devoted considerable por-
tion of the time he passed in seclusion
after the failure of his celebrated Bou-
lognc enterprise to the translation of
Schiller's poctical works. While an
inmate of the Conciergerie he made a
French metrical version of the lode to
the IDEAL" which he subsequently sent,
when in the height of his power, to an
illustrious lady who had expressed de-
sire to per,ise it. The translation was
accompanied by the following letter:
"Elysee. April, 1S5S.-Madame, in COM
pliance with your wishes, forward YOU
my version Of Schillers Ode to the
Ideal. Am right in SO doing? May
presume to submit the complaints of a
soul bewailing shattered hopes to one
who of all others is the most capable OF
resuscitating them? Accept, Madame,
the assurance of my respect. Louis
Napoleon Bonaparte His Majesty and
his brother. the Grand Duke Of Berg,
became colloquially familiar with the
German language in their early youth,
and spoke it fuently throughout life;
but We believe Napoleon was not gener.
allv credited with such mastery of that
tongue as would appear to he implied by
the fact that he was equal to the ardu
Gus task Of rendering Schiller's pOetical
! nspirations into French verse