THE apoplexy OF GOLD.

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 330, 19 July 1849, Page 3 (Supplement)

THE apoplexy OF GOLD.

The oldest and moit extensive empire in the world is that of gold, and in this age of subversions even that empire is threatened with overthrow, anil the danger proccedi from a republican region. The philoiophet's stone may now be advertised cheap, or future alchemists may propose the transmutation of gold into a more preacious metal. A -pade in California i« now worth its weight in g< Id ; a blanket is almost as dear as so much lace ; a frieze jacketc ket is worth cloth of gold, [manine this depreciation extending to Europe with the arrival of ships from Fraucuco, ballasted with gold, and the sovereign brought to the lerel of the dump. Fancy gold so fallen itifthe florid as to pity the part now performed by lead or pewter, senring for workhouse platters, for common coal scuttles, for porter < pjts, for pipes, and ci«terns. Fnncy copper using nbove it, and gold sheathing the bottom of ships instead of the more precious metal. What a reverse of fortune would tbis be. And what a change, too, would be wrought in our language, and how many fine thoughts that have lived in honour for centuries would be reduced to dross. The auri sacra fames will come to sound as absurd as now to speak of the passion for pewter, and the golden mean will signify literaly something passing mean Golden prospects and golden dreams will sound dumply as leaden prospects and leaden dreams. The sun itself will lose its complexion of honour as golden, and it will seem that nature might have made him of something richer than that common yellow ware. As for golden age it will convey ideas of penury ihe mo->t abject. " Too much of a good thing b good for nothing," says the adige, and so it may be with poor gold brought to poverty by abundance. Imagine this potentate who his swfcycd the world from the fist dawn of civil'zation begging his bread, unsought, spume?, condemned I to the most menial offices. The old song was so prophetic as the seor who list century predicted the downfall of the French monaichy and the Pope in the past year, The wealthy fool with gold in store, for what fools will they appear who have gold in store when it comes down to a few pence the p.mnd, and when bullion is discharged by gold-whippers from the holds of ships as coali are now. Alas t what a change of fortune for the golden calf j a proper c.ilf indeed it will look when not worth its weight in real ! It is clear that the div"nity of gold, like that of the lama, depends altogether upon his shrouding himself. The moment he is fout.d out, the sources of bis being discovered, and full measure of his abundance taken, j there is an end of hi* worship. In this, as in other instance", familial ity breeds contempt. The more that is had of him the lesi is made of him ; and the moment his measure is taken, not in ingots, but in the degrees of latitude and longitude, his decline and fall ate fixed. Ca ifornia as the French phrase it, is coining to market in block ; men nre putting the valley of the Sacramento in their pockets ; one vagabond picks up a plumb be. fore breakfast, another fills a wonted stocking with gold dust, rea'ising the story of the golden leg. Bui these Dead Sea fruits have not the faculty of keeping, and as they pour into the market they must turn to aihcs by process of depreciation. It is curious enough, now that every foot of land in the neighbourhood of Sen Francisco has its enormous temporary value, to turn to Commodore Wilkes's account of the country before its cession. ; Commodore Wilkes had the command of nn exploring expedition of the United States in '38 '42, a duty which he performed with admirable ability, being a man of superior qualifications. He describes Francisco as the most Rpacious and best harbour in the world, but all the rest was poverty and banenness. The town Yerba Baena consisted of a frame building belong- ' ing to the Hudson's Bay Company, a stoic kept by an | American, a billiard tablr, the poop of a "-hip occupied J as a dwelling houie, a blacksluth's shop, and some outbuildings. This fine town is sunounded by a sterile ' soil and bare rocks. — Such i% one of the principal sta- ■ tions of the El Dorado. The bhcksaiith's shop must by this time be changed into a Storr and Mortimei's. There is eveiy diver-ity, it seems, of soil and climate in California, and the valleys of the Sacramento, the scene of the gold-finding, and the San Ju»n, are mentioned as the richest m fertility by Commodore Wilkes, who little dreamt that there clods were gold. The climate hai thisfpeculianty, that the summer is colder than the wmtei. 1 E\en before the d • overy of gold errry necessary of life wa» ci ormously dear in the country, trade conduct d chit fly by barter, and civilisation in a low sta't, the upper classes i< ie and dissipated, the Indians in or dmant y addicted to nblir g, which they may now indulge in for stakes ut golden pools, instead of bits ot rubbish. — Examiner.