Monsieur Emilie Chevalier, who has just returned from a government mission to Panama, in a report to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, considers the result as having been much larger. The gold brought as freight by steamers in 1850, he estimates at [92]50,306,525 dollars. The author of the report adds, on the testimony of a person whom he considers as competent to give a sound opinion, that the sums carried by passengers are not less than three fourths of the amounts brought as merchandize; and thus he arrives at the extraordinary figures of 88,000,000 dollars (more than [93]470,000,000 francs) for a single year. At St. Francisco, where they are able to form probably a more correct estimate on a subject so difficult to trace accurately, they do not value the amount of gold carried by passengers at above one-fourth the amount taken in freight. Even on this supposition there will be a sum of 25,000,000 dollars, or above [94]133,000,000 francs to be deducted; but it appears to me very doubtful, if the produce of 1850 exceeded this figure of [95]329,000,000 francs, according to the French documents already referred to. We have more valuable documents of another kind to rely upon, in the quantities of gold coined at the United States’ Mint; the following are the official figures:—
| Sent to the Mint. | Coined. | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1849 | 12,243,175 | dollars | £2,448,635 | 9,007,761 | dollars | £1,801,552 | |
| 1850 | 38,365,160 | ” | 7,673,032 | 31,981,737 | ” | 6,396,347 | |
| 1851 | 56,867,220 | ” | 11,373,444 | 62,812,478 | ” | 12,562,496 | |
| Total, | 107,475,555 | ” | £21,495,111 | 103,801,976 | ” | £20,760,395 | |
All the gold sent to the Mint did not, however, come from California. A part consisted of specie sent from Europe, in exchange for American stocks or merchandize. The treasure found in 1848 in the Valley of the Sacramento, belonged, as it has been stated, principally to foreigners. Up to the month of March, 1850, the United States’ Mints had not received above 11,000,000 or [96]12,000,000 dollars of Californian gold. At the end of August in that year the amounts paid in did not exceed [97]24,500,000 dollars. A year later, the mints had received in gold from that source [98]80,000,000 dollars.
The United States have naturally sent the larger number of the emigrants to California. It is with the United States principally that the trade is carried on. It would appear, then, to be natural that the principal flow of gold from the Sierra Nevada should take that direction. Doubtless a portion of the gold found annually in California will remain there, and form the circulating medium. Considerable amounts also will have been spread throughout South America, and amongst the various commercial countries of Europe, either in payment of goods shipped, or as the free capital arising from the accumulations of labor. I shall not be exaggerating, however, in supposing, that seven-tenths of the gold annually produced is coined in the United States, and that one-tenth of the produce only is shipped directly to Europe. Thus, then, the United States having received from California [99]100,000,000 dollars up to the end of 1850, the total produce of the four years, including 1848, (during which year there did not appear to have been any coinage from Californian gold), ought to have been from [100]750,000,000 to [101]800,000,000 francs.
The gold exported from California in 1851 is estimated by the Custom House returns at [102]56,000,000 dollars. According to the calculations of the St. Francisco Herald, for the first three months of 1852, the total produce amounted to [103]14,656,142 dollars; at this rate the produce of the year 1852 would not be less than [104]62,000,000 dollars. The export of April is estimated at St. Francisco, at [105]3,422,000 dollars, rather more than [106]18,000,000 francs. The produce of the “placers,” according to the latest reports, although still abundant, is decreasing; nevertheless, if Australia does not attract the most experienced and the most greedy of the work-people, the mines of California appear likely to yield this year not less than about [107]300,000,000 of our money; that is six times the amount of the production of gold at the beginning of the century, throughout the civilized world. It is twice the amount of the production of gold in 1847. It is hardly needful to exaggerate these figures, as many writers on both sides of the Atlantic have already done, in order to prove that a change is occurring in our monetary values, and that the status quo which has lasted for above half a century, is not necessarily to continue for ever.
V.
Of the three great gold-producing countries of modern times, New South Wales is the one now most attracting public attention. This country enjoys several advantages over the others.
The climate is mild and healthy, the land is neither occupied by savage tribes nor infested with wild beasts. In a country where drought is the principal obstacle to successful cultivation, the gold regions, situated on the slopes of the highest mountains and near the sources of the principal streams, are naturally the best watered. They appear to extend from north-east to south-west, following the direction of the Murray, the largest river in Australia, and over an extent of 1,400 miles, [108](2,452 kilomêtres) by 400 miles (643 kilomêtres). This surface is larger, by four times, the extent of California, and five times larger than Great Britain.