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GRADºłº,
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A HISTORY
OF THE
PRECIO US METALS,
FROM THE
EARLIEST PERIODS TO THE PRESENT TIME;
WITH
DIRECTIONS FOR TESTING THEIR PURITY,
AND
starr MENTs or THEIR comparative valur, Esrim ATED cost,
AND AMoUNT AT DIFFERENT PrºRrops;
ToGETHER witH
AN ACCOUNT OF THE PRODUCTS OF VARIOUS MINES ;
A
HISTORY OF THE ANGLO-MEXICAN MINING COMPANIES,
AND
SPECULATIONS: CpMößRNING THE MINERAL wealTH of
CALIFORNIA:
^ By J. L. Comstock, M.D.’
AUTHoR of “PHILosophy,” “ GE6ſogy,” “MINERALogy,” “ch EMISTRY,” Etc.
**-eº-º-º-eº-º-º-º-º-º-º-º-eº-º-º-eº-º-º-eº-º-º-e
BARTFORD :
BELKNAP AND HAMERSLEY.
1849.
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ENTERED, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1849,
By J. L. Comstock, M. D.,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of Connecticut.
sºvº/Nº-º-º/Nºſºvº/*\r-
STEREOTYPED BY PRINTED BY
R. I C H A R D H . HO B B S CAS E., TIFF ANY AND CO.,
HARTFoRD, CoNN. HARTFord, Cox'N. . .
ſº & 0 dº t
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PREFACE.
AT the present time, when not only the people
of our country, but those of most of the civil-
ized nations of the earth, have their attention
turned to the sudden acquisition of wealth, by
the extraction of the precious metals from the
earth, it was thought that a history of these
metals, from the period of their earliest use,_-
the sources whence they were obtained—their
quantity and value at different periods of the
world—their effects on the prices of commodi-
ties, together with their cost, and a statement of
the success or fall of former mining companies,
would present a mass of information which
many would desire to possess, but which few
among our busy population would have either
the time or the means of collecting.
With respect to our sources of information, it
will be seen that many authorities are quoted in
the body of the work, and among them Mr.

iv P. R. E. F. A C E .
Jacob most frequently. His “ History of the
Precious Metals” contains a vast amount of
matter on the subject, but whether it is always
to be depended on, we have in many cases no
means of knowing. We have, however, de-
pended chiefly on his authority for the financial
statistics of the Romans, and of the middle
ages. We have also quoted Gibbon, Brande,
McCulloch, Ure, various Reviews, Humboldt,
Ward, and such other authorities as we could
lay our hands on.
The chapter on the use of the precious metals
other than coin, is only given as an approxima-
tion to the truth, and while some friends, to
whom that portion of the manuscript was shown,
pronounced the estimates of some of the articles
too small, others thought them too large. As
to the amount for communion plate, we can
only say that clergymen of the several de-
nominations were consulted, and their opinions
taken. -
The history of the Anglo-Mexican mining
companies is, perhaps, at the present day, the
most important chapter in this little book, That
the most sanguine expectations of vast returns
were then entertained in London, is shown by
PR E FA C E. v
the quintuple rise of the stock. But the reader
will see the result. -
With respect to the estimates of advances for
Californian gold, we have submitted them to
several persons who are concerned in this spec-
ulation, and nearly all have thought them be-
neath the real amount. -
As the preparation of this volume has occu-
pied only a few weeks, it may, and probably
does, contain many errors, which we shall be
glad to correct on their being pointed out in a
friendly manner.
HARTFORD, CoNN., March, 1849.
1*
CHAP, I.
CHAP. II.
CHAP. III.
CHAP. IV.
CHAP. W.
CHAP. VI.
CHAP. VII.
CHAP. VIII.
CHAP. IX.
CHAP. X.
CHAP. XI.
CHAP. XII.
CHAP. XIII.
CHAP. XIV.
CHAP. XV.
CHAP. XVI.
CHAP. XVII,s
CONTENTS,
General Account of the Metals, . .
General account of Gold, . . . . .
Specific gravity of, . • * * .
Geological situations of, . . . . .
Methods of obtaining, .
Washing for, e
Spurious Gold, # tº º
Chief Gold Mines, . . . . . .
Refining the Precious Metals, . .
Refining by Acids, . . . .
Refining by Cupellation, .
Touchstone, . & e s - e s tº e
Metals a medium of trade, . . . . .
Jewish Talent, . • * * -
Solomon's Wealth, tº e e g tº
Ophir, where, . . . . . . . . = .
Ancient sources of the Metals, . . .
Riches of the Egyptian, e tº dº
Accumulations of the Metals, . . .
Consumption and Loss of Gold and Silver, ..
Roman Coins, . .
Loss by Abrasion, . . . .
Consumption by the Romans,
Loss by burying in the ground, .
Distribution by plunder,
Prices at Rome, . . . . . . . . .
Diminution of the metals, 9th century, .
Unproductiveness of the Mines, . .
General search for the Metals, 12th century, .
Effects of the scarcity of money, .
Bishop of St. Andrews, . . . . . .
Sustentation of Lady Howard, . .
Effects of the Crusades, e
Discovery of America,
Conquest of Mexico, .
Mines of Potosi, * * * * *
Effects of the Mimes in Mexico, .
Effects of Gold on communities,
Effects on debtor and creditor,
Permanent effects on society, º
Gold not, the wealth of a nation, .
Cost of California Gold, º
VIII. C O N T E N T S .
Page.
CHAP. XVIII. Prospect of Gold from California, . . . . . . . . . iš
CHAP. XIX: Effects of doubling the amount of Coin, . . . . . 111
CHAP. XX. Californian Diamonds, . . . . . . . . . . . 115
CHAP. XXI. Metallic Wealth from 1600 to 1700, . . . . . . . . 123
CHAP. XXII. Coin in circulation at present, . . . . . . . . 128
Coinage of the United States, . . . . . . . . . 129
American Gold Mines, . . . . . . . . . . . 131
Coinage of Great Britain, . . . . . . . . . . 133
Russian Mines, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Mexican Mines, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136
CHAP. XXIII. Coin since 1816, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
CHAP. XXIV. Uses of the Metals in the United States, . . . . . 140
Silver Tea-Spoons, tº e º 'º 142
Silver Table-Spoons, . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Silver Forks, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
3 Other Articles of Silver, . . . . . . . . . . . 146
Services of Plate, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Watches, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Gold Rings, Chains, and Pins, . . . . . . . . 154
Gold Finger Rings, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 155
Gold Bosom Pins, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Gold Chains, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Gold Beads, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Gold Thimbles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Communion Plate, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Gold and Silver Pencils, . . . . . . . . . . . 168
Gold Bracelets, . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
Silver Spectacles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
Gold Spectacles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
Gold Pens, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Gold Lockets; . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
Gold Watch Keys, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 176
Gold Leaf and Foil, . . . . . . . . . . . . 177
Plating and Galvanizing, . . . . . . . . . . . 178
CHAP. XXV. Banks and Banking, . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
CHAP, XXVI. Population and Property in the United States, . . . 186
CHAP. XXVII. London Mexican Mining Companies, . . . . . . . . 195
Success of the remaining Mining Companies in Mexico, 201
Magnitude and expense of some of the Mexican Mines, 204
- CHAP. XXVIII. Value of the Precious Metals, compared with the ex-
pense of obtaining them, . . . . . . . . 211
Conclusion on the subject of Silver Mines, . . . . 215
CHAP. XXIX. Estimated expenses of Outfits for California, . . . 216
Loss of Labor, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Outfits, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 218
Subsistence, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 219
H IS TO R. Y
OF THE
PRECI0 U S M ET ALS,
C H A PTE R. I.
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF THE METALS.
THERE seems to be an instinctive love of gold and
silver in our species; hence the history of man presents
more or less the history of the Precious Metals. While
the savage ornaments his person with glittering coins,
or plates of gold, his civilized neighbor does the same in
a different form, or, perhaps, hoards his treasure to be
expended in luxuries, which he deems more refined, but
which are certainly much less innocent than those of
the savage.
In searching for the most ancient history of the
metals, we must therefore begin with the earliest records
of our race, the Sacred Scriptures. Here we find that
gold, silver and copper were already in use, either as
Ornaments or instruments of war. These were the first
metals used, since they all occur in the native or pure
state ; and hence, unlike iron and most of the other
metals, they require no art in separating them from
their ores. It is true that the largest proportions of
10 H [ S T O R Y O F 'I' iſ E
silver and copper are found combined with other sub-
stances, as sulphur and oxygen; but they are also found
in considerable quantities in the metallic form.
The quantity of iron existing in the earth is much
greater than that of any, or all the other metals com-
bined; and, as it is the most common, so it is the most
useful of all the metals; but in consequence of its com-
bination with other substances, its presence is only
indicated by the application of some test, involving a
considerable advance in the arts. Its separation and
conversion into steel require still greater scientific
refinement; and hence we find that gold, silver and
copper, had been in use for ages before iron was em-
ployed. Even the Egyptians, with all their learning
and luxury, their refinement and skill in many of the
useful arts, never discovered that of producing instru-
ments of iron and steel. At a date so recent as the
discovery of the New World, the inhabitants of many
parts, though well skilled in the art of pottery, and the
manufacture of gold into ornaments, still used that pre-
cious metal for fish-hooks and other common purposes,
though the earth contained an abundance of the different
ores of iron. This was the case with the people of Brazil
and Mexico, who, on the arrival of their conquerors,
were glad to exchange hooks of gold for those of steel.
The most ancient cutting instruments were formed
of copper, hardened with a mixture of tin, which has
been found, by recent experiments, to make instru-
ments in hardness little short of those of steel.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 11
The most ancient use of iron, discovered among the
relics of antiquity, has been in the form of small pieces,
serving as the edges of cutting instruments, set in
handles of gold, silver, or copper. Swords and other
weapons, as well as tools of use for domestic purposes,
have been found in the mounds of Scandinavia, made
in this manner—thus showing that iron was once the
most precious of all the metals. These specimens,
so far from proving that the art of extracting iron
from its ores was known, seem, from their great value
and rarity, to show the contrary; for, had this art been
discovered, its uses would undoubtedly have soon led to
the production of larger quantities. We must, there-
fore, infer that these few specimens owe their origin to
the accidental discovery of meteoric iron, masses of
which have been found in most parts of the world.
This is always in the metallic state, though mixed with
various proportions of other substances.
Mr. Prescott, in his history of Peru, says: “It is
worthy of remark, that the Egyptians, the Mexicans,
and the Peruvians, in their progress towards civiliza-
tion, should never have detected the use of iron, which
lay around them in abundance; and that they should
each, without any knowledge of the other, have found
a substitute for it, in such a curious combination of
metals, as gave their tools almost the temper of steel—
a secret that has been lost, or, to speak more correctly,
has never been discovered by the civilized European.”
This “combination” of metals, as above stated, is now
ge
12 H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
supposed to have been an alloy of copper and tin; for,
although the latter metal does not occur in the metallic
state, still it requires much less artin its reduction than
iron. We can also readily conceive how this discovery
might have been made ; for, if a mass of the oxide of
tin, (not an uncommon ore,) be cast upon burning
coals, and in the melting state be stirred with a piece
of copper, there will be formed on the latter a thin crust
of alloy, which will have nearly the hardness of steel.
Plumbers, who use copper soldering irons, (so called,)
are aware of the hardness of the crust thus formed, after
they have been used in the fusion of tin.
Masses of Meteoric Iron in various countries. A few
instances of the discovery of meteoric iron are here re-
corded, for the purpose of showing that the occurrence
of a few instances, or small quantities of that metal,
among the relics of antiquity, do not indicate, with any
certainty, that the working of iron ores was understood.
Prof. Pallas was shown, in Siberia, a mass of native
or meteoric iron, weighing 1,680 pounds, and which, the
inhabitants assured him, fell from the air.
A mass, in the cabinet of Vienna, came from Croatia,
where it was seen to fall from the atmosphere in the
form of a ball of fire.
Don Rubin de Celis describes a mass of the same
metal at Tucuman, in South America, which weighed
30,000 pounds.
A mass, now in the cabinet at New Haven, Con-
necticut, was found near Red River, in Louisiana. It
.*
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 13
is very compact and malleable, and weighs 3,000 pounds.
Capt. Ross describes a similar mass in West Green-
land, of which the Esquimaux manufactured several
knives. *
In all these, and in many other instances, where such
masses have been analyzed, they have been found,
without exception, to contain a small per centage of
nickel—a peculiarity of composition which indicates
the identity of their origin.
CHAPTER II.
GENERAL ACCOUNT OF GOLD.
PERSONs having no knowledge of Mineralogy, have
often made their fortunes, in prospect, by the discovery
of yellow, glittering, metallic particles, either in the
fragments of a broken rock, or in the loose sand of a
river. The writer remembers an instance where an
honest farmer kept such a discovery a profound secret
for years, not doubting that the little cubes of sulphuret
of iron were pure gold, and, consequently, that his for-
tune was secure whenever he should choose to make
use of his congealed treasure. Of course his chagrin
could only have been equalled by his hopes, when told
that his gold was nothing but a mixture of iron and
sulphur, and entirely worthless.
2
14 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
The sulphurets of iron and copper, known under the
names of iron and copper pyrites, are found of a yellow
color and brilliant metallic lustre, which does not tar-
nish by exposure to the air; nor are they, in this state,
soluble in any acid.
Chemical and Distinctive Characters. These two
compounds of copper and iron have often, (in the ardor
people have for finding gold,) been mistaken for that
metal. But, to an experienced eye, both the color and
form will always prevent such a deception. But where
such experience does not exist, a few simple tests will
dispel such a delusion. The compounds in question
are readily reduced to powder under the hammer; and
if submitted to the flame of the blowpipe on charcoal,
or heated to redness in a coal fire, they both emit the
odor of sulphur—the iron becoming magnetic, and the
copper soluble in an acid. None of these characters,
as we shall see directly, belong to gold.
Forms under which Gold occurs. Gold is found only
in the native or metallic state. All the other metals,
except platina, are found combined with sulphur, oxy-
gen, carbonic acid, or some other substance by which
they are said to be mineralized, and by which their
metallic lustre is entirely destroyed. These compounds
are called ores ; and in order to separate the metals they
contain, they must be submitted to various chemical
manipulations, according to the kind of metal and the
substances with which they are combined.
On the contrary, gold is found only in the metallic or
P R. E. C I O U S M 13 T A L S. 15
{
brilliant state, and hence an ore of gold has never been
found, nor can such a compound occur, since no natural
process is sufficient to overcome its resistance to a com-
bination with any of the elements with which it is asso-
ciated. It is true that volcanic heat may, for a time, alloy
it with another metal; but the very means of producing
such an effect will, if continued, purify the gold, by the
oxidation and subsequent evolution of the alloying body.
Gold occurs massive; capillary or thread-like; den-
tritic ; in scales; amorphous or shapeless; and crys-
tallized in cubes, and in octohedrons or solids, having
eight sides. It waries in color, from Orange or golden
yellow, to yellowish grey—the color depending, in some
degree, on the metal with which it is alloyed. -
Gold is seldom or never found in the perfectly pure
state ; but is alloyed with small proportions of other
metals, the most common of which are copper and
silver. &
Other Distinctive Characters of Gold. The matural
compounds of copper and iron, which have been
mistaken for gold, are described above ; they fly
in pieces under a blow of the hammer. Gold, on the
contrary, is always malleable, and may be drawn into
thin plates under the hammer. This simple test is quite
distinctive, since no other yellow metallic substance is
found in the native state which can be drawn under the
hammer. The chemical characters of this metal are
equally distinctive, since it is only soluble in a mixture
of nitric and muriatic acids, called, by the old chemists,
16 H J S T O R Y O F 'I' H E
aqua regia, or royal water, because it dissolves the no-
blest of metals. This is made by mixing three parts
of muriatic, or hydrochloric acid, with one of nitric.
This solution stains the skin an indelible purple, and
from it the metallic gold is thrown down by the green
sulphate of iron, or the copperas of commerce.
Specific Gravity. In addition to the above simple
tests of gold, its specific gravity, or even its weight in
the hand, will distinguish it from all other substances,
except platina. The specific gravity of native gold is
from 14 to 18, according to the quantity of alloy it
contains. Directions will be found in most treatises
on chemistry and mineralogy for taking the specific
gravity of the metals.
GEOLOGICAL SITUATIONS OF GOLD. In most instances
gold is found either in, or in the vicinity of primitive
rocks, as granite, quartz rock, and mica slate. These
rocks often contain veins of geenstone, limestone, jasper,
or sulphate of barytes, in which the metal is dissemina-
ted. The metals which are most frequently found as-
sociated with gold in the form of ores, are the sul-
phurets of silver, copper, iron and lead, and sometimes
those of antimony. The gold, although disseminated
in the veins of these metals, is not combined with them,
but exists in particles so small as often not to be dis-
tinguished by the eye. Hence rich mines of this metal
are found to traverse mountains of granite, or to de-
scend to considerable depths in the earth, when the ores,
... to the eye, exhibit no signs of their precious contents.
PR E C I O U S M ET A L S. * 17
In other instances sandy quartz, or fine granite, pre-
senting to the eye nothing more than a yellowish stain
of the oxide of iron, still contain considerable quantities
of gold. -
METHODs of OBTAINING THE GOLD BY SMELTING.
When the precious metal is thus disseminated, it is
obtained either by smelting in a strong fire, or by
amalgamation with quicksilver. In either case, the
rock is first reduced to a fine powder, and washed, by
which the lighter portions are separated, while the gold,
by its greater specific gravity, falls to the bottom, but
mixed with more or less of the sand or ores of the other
metals. The matter thus obtained being melted, there
falls down a button, consisting, perhaps, of several
metals, from which the gold is afterwards separated.
Where the gold was not visible to the eye, this appears
to have been the ancient mode of obtaining it. But in
the absence of chemical knowledge, it is obvious that it
must have been nearly impossible to obtain the metal
in any tolerable degree of purity, though, undoubtedly,
in many instances, the gold was disseminated in the
rock without the presence of metallic ores, in which
cases, by a strong fire, the metal, in a state of con-
siderable purity, might have been obtained.
By Amalgamation. Although, when the mine was
rich, larger quantities of gold could be separated by
Smelting or fusion, yet it is also true that, with the ut-
most care, and even with the aid of all the arts of the
present day, much was lost; and, therefore, when the v
- 2*
18 - H IS TO R Y O F T H E
process of amalgamation was discovered, this method
gradually went into disuse. Several writers on the an-
cient arts have asserted that quicksilver was used in
the separation of gold during the times of Moses and
Solomon ; while others, and among them Jacob, the
most elaborate writer in our language, on this subject,
have found no passages, in authors of antiquity, to sup-
port such a supposition.
But at whatever period the process of amalgamation
began to be employed, it is certain that it was in general
use among the Spanish miners in South America in
1576; and that no other method was then considered
effective, even in the working of the silver mines, is
shown by the fact that the quicksilver was a govern-
ment monopoly, and was delivered to the operatives
only in specific quantities. This was a regulation by
the Spanish government, in order to secure the tax on
the silver produced—the quantity being in proportion
to the quicksilver delivered.
To show the perfection of this method, it is stated
that when the auriferous particles form only the
200,000th part of an ore, as that of the sulphuret of
copper, such mines may still be worked to profit, when
the process of amalgamation is skillfully performed.
We do not profess here to go into such a detail of the
manipulations as to enable the reader to erect works
for the extraction of gold from a mine, but only such
as will instruct him how to make an experiment on
specimens of auriferous sand, or fragments of rock, sus-
P. R. R. C. I O U S M ET A L S . I9
pected to contain gold, but which is not apparent to
the eye.
The apparatus, for this purpose, attached to large
mining establishments, either for silver or gold, is very
extensive and costly ; but, for the purpose in question,
only a few implements, and those of the cheapest kind,
are required. *}
In the first place, the sand or rock suspected to con-
tain the gold is to be finely pulverized, which may bee
performed in a mortar of iron or stone—water being
poured in repeatedly, during the trituration, and then
decanted, in order to remove the lighter particles, while
those containing the gold, being of greater specific
gravity, will sink to the bottom of the vessel.
Having thus removed a portion of the sand and earth,
that which is suspected to contain the gold is to be
dried and returned to the mortar; the drying, however,
is not necessary. Next, pour on a small quantity of
quicksilver, and renew the trituration, adding another
portion now and them, until all the stomy matter, or
sandy particles, has, by stirring, come into contact with
the quicksilver. An hour or two is a sufficient time to
determine the result.
The specific gravity of the sand being less than that
of the mercury or quicksilver, this will swim on the sur-
face, and may be removed by pouring the whole into a
shallow vessel, or by straining through a piece of coarse
cloth, which will retain the earthy particles, while the
amalgam will pass through.
20 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
Next, place a piece of soft-dressed buckskin in a cup,
and pour in a small portion of the mercury, taking care
to fasten the skin very securely in the form of a bag,
with many folds of a string; then, by squeezing with the
hands, force the mercury through the pores of the
leather, which is readily done, and what remains in the
form of paste will probably be an amalgam of gold;
which, on the application of heat in an iron spoon, will
-leave the pure metal by the evaporation of the mercury.
When the gold is contained in the ores of other
metals, the mass is first roasted, or submitted to a mod-
erate heat, in the form of coarse powder, which is then
pulverized and submitted to the process of amalgama-
tion, as above described.
Washing sand or auriferous earth for Gold. It is ob-
vious that this method of obtaining gold can only be
employed where the particles of the metal are apparent
to the eye; and, although the proof may be considered
so perfectly simple as to be performed equally well by
all who possess equal powers of vision, still it is well
known to the trade that it is an art requiring consider-
able skill, and that in practice an experienced washer
will often obtain twice as much gold from the same
material as a new hand.
As a great proportion of the gold in possession of the
ancients was certainly obtained by this method, thus
requiring neither heat nor amalgamation for its ex-
traction, it is obvious that the art of mining, as it is
practiced at the present day, could have made but little
P R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 21
progress, so long as the surface of the earth afforded a
sufficient supply of the most precious of metals. And
accordingly we shall find that excavations in the earth
for gold were unknown in the primitive ages, though
the metal itself was in use in the earliest times of
history. s”
. It is an interesting fact, that the gold found near the
surface, or in alluvial sands, is said to contain less alloy
than that excavated from rocks—the alloy being de-
stroyed by exposure. In our own country, this obser-
vation seems to be confirmed by the recent analysis
of specimens from California, which, at present, are
entirely of surface origin, and nearly, if not quite, equal
in purity to standard gold.
Although the ancient auriferous sands, as those of
Nubia, Abyssinia, Egypt and Arabia, appear to have
been exhausted, yet alluvial localities of this metal still
exist in several parts of Africa, Europe, Asia and
America, and within the last century large proportions
of the gold now in existence have been obtained from
such deposits.
As washing was the most ancient method of obtain-
ing this metal, and as this has continued to the present
day to be the easiest as well as the least expensive
method, we should of course suppose that the simple
machinery to be employed for this purpose, would be
the very best which ingenuity and experience could de-
vise, and that the improvements of one generation or
country would be transmitted and introduced into
22 H I’S T O R Y O F T H E
others, whenever said machinery was required. But it
does not appear that this has been the case, for we find
that at the present time a variety of machines are em-
ployed for this purpose, not only in different countries,
but in different parts of the same country. It is, how-
ever, hardly necessary, in so short a treatise, to occupy
much space in describing these machines; we shall
therefore only refer to those which are the most simple,
cheap and effective. -
That employed by the Bohemians and Hungarians,
where surface gold has been collected for centuries,
consists of a plank with twenty-four grooves cut across
its surface, the sides being raised by strips of boards
nailed on. A pine board, fourteen inches wide and six
or eight feet long, with strips along the sides a few
inches high, and pieces of thick lath nailed across the
bottom, could be more easily made, and would be
equally useful. This the Hungarians hold in an in-
clined position, and placing the sand to be washed in
the upper part, they pour on water, which carries away
the coarser and lighter materials, leaving the particles
of gold in the transverse crevices towards the lower
part of the inclined plane, mixed with various propor-
tions of fine sand. This mixture they remove to a flat
wooden basin, and by a peculiar sleight of hand, which
practice only gan teach, they separate the sand en-
tirely, leaving the gold in the dish.
Another method, said to be employed with success,
is to substitute a coarse cloth for the transverse grooves
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 23
of the inclined plane, which, on the application of the
water, retains only the fine particles of gold and sand;
after which the cloth is removed, and these particles
washed and shaken off into the shallow dish, as de-
scribed above. -
In several parts of South America, where surface
gold has long been collected from the alluvial deposits,
a method similar to that first described is employed.
Mr. Mawe, in his travels to the gold regions of Brazil,
has given a figure of a washer with his dish, in the act
of washing; but, as stated above, this act can only be
learned by practice, and therefore we can see no ad-
vantage to the experimenter in copying the picture.
In California, according to the report of Capt. Folsom,
of the Quarter-master's department, the gold is separa-
ted by the washing in common tin pans, and vessels of
every kind which can be substituted for them. The
finest portions of the earth being separated by the water
and a gyratory motion of the pan, the gravel is then
removed by the hand, and the gold and fine sand left at
the bottom of the vessel. This being placed on aboard
or cloth to dry, the sand is then blown off by the mouth
or common bellows, while the greater specific gravity
of the gold causes it to remain on the cloth. By this
method much of the finest gold is blown off and lost.
Whenever the present eagerness for the accumulation
of gold subsides, these fine particles will be saved and
submitted to amalgamation, by which every vestige of
the precious metal will be extracted.
24 H IS T' O R Y O F T H E
Capt. Folsom also states that vast numbers of rude
machines, resembling nursery cradles, are also employed
in this business. The rocking of the cradle answers to
the gyratory motion of the pan ; the water, mud and
fine sand escaping from the foot of the machine over a
series of small cross-bars placed on its bottom, which
retain the coarse particles of the metal. “Over the head
of the cradle is a coarse sieve, upon which the au-
riferous earth is placed, and the machine being in mo-
tion, water is poured upon the sieve, and the gold, sand
and fine earthy matter, is thus taken into the body of
the machine, while the gravel is rejected.”
Spurious or factitious Gold, how detected. Although
we have already described the tests by which native
gold may be known from the native compounds of sul-
phur, iron and copper, which are of a brilliant yellow,
it is, perhaps, still more important, at the present time,
that the precious metal should readily be distinguished
from brass imitations, which, it is said, are, or will be,
offered for sale in phials as the real California metal.
We cannot stop to say more on this subject than to
express our belief that his majesty from below would
in shame deny having ever put the idea of such a fraud
into the heads of any of his mortal servants. -
The method of detecting this fraud is not difficult;
for, in the first place, the specific gravity of brass or
copper is only half that of gold; hence the weight of
the phial in the hand will instantly show the difference.
But, if mixed half or two thirds gold and the remainder
PR E CI O U S M ET A L S. 25
brass, the difference of weight would not so readily be
observed ; and if in a round green glass, or otherwise
colored bottle, the variety of color between the false
and true metals could not readily be seen. The remedy
would therefore be, in the absence of chemical tests,
to pour the contents on a sheet of paper, when the eye
would instantly see the difference.
The forms of the particles, or scales, are also different;
those of the gold being irregular, but not resembling
the turnings, granulations or filings of brass. It is diffi-
cult to describe in words these differences; but the eye,
at a single glance, would not fail to do so.
Test with Acids. The yellow sulphurets of copper
and iron, as already stated, are brittle, and fly in pieces
under the hammer. The imitations of gold above de-
scribed, may be so prepared as to be slightly malleable,
though they can never be drawn into thin plates like
gold. But the most sure way of detecting this fraud is
to subject the article to the test of nitric acid, or the
aquafortis of the shops. To do this, it is only neces-
sary to place a small quantity of the suspected metal in
a watch crystal, or on a piece of window glass or mica,
and let fall on it a few drops of the acid, which, if it is
gold, will have no immediate effect, while it will in-
stantly attack the false metal, turning it black, and with
the emission of red fumes, will soon destroy it entirely.
But a fraud, not so readily detected, may consist of a
malleable compound of copper and other base metals,
with an external covering of gold, by means of the
26 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
electro-galvanic process. In this case the quantity of
gold might be very minute, but still sufficient to protect
the surface from being so readily attacked by the nitric
acid. To an experienced eye, this fraud would also be
instantly seen ; for the color of pure gold, thrown on
by art, is of a deeper yellow and more brilliant than
that of the native metal as it comes from the sand. In
the absence of such experience, a single scale, rubbed
on a whetstone or file, and then submitted to the acid,
would detect the fraud as above described, as the film
of gold would be rubbed off, and the base metal exposed
to the action of the solvent. If a little muriatic acid
be added to the nitric, this would destroy the surface
gold, turning the base metal black, when the whole
would be soluble in the aquafortis. In the absence of
the nitric acid, the sulphuric acid, or oil of vitriol, will
dissolve the brass.
C H A PTER III.
CHIEF GOLD MINES AND THEIR GEOLOGICAL SITUATIONS.
ALTHOUGH, as we have already stated, there are no
gold ores, strictly speaking—that is, this metal is never
mineralized with oxygen or sulphur, forming ores like
other metals—still, as there are auriferous veins in
rocks, which are worked partly or wholly for the gold
they contain, we may, without impropriety, call such
P R E CI O U S M ET A L S . 27
2
excavation gold mines. All the mines of South
America, though many of them contain greater or less
proportions of gold, are called silver mines, because this
is the metal for which they are chiefly wrought.
It is said that gold never predominates over other
metals, so as to constitute the chief metallic ingredient
in a vein. In primitive strata this metal exists in small
grains or spangles, often visible, but frequently not to
be detected without a magnifying glass, or the process
of amalgamation.
But gold is much more frequently found in alluvial
sands than among primitive rocks. The auriferous
sands of Europe, Africa, Asia and America, are all ob-
served to be nearly of the same colors; that is, black,
brown or reddish, showing that they contain oxides of
iron. This would seem to be the result of the decom-
position of auriferous pyrites, though it has not been
observed that iron ores of any sort still exist in the
neighboring rocks from which such oxides might for-
merly have been derived.
The only gold mines in Europe, of any importance,
are those of Transylvania and Hungary. The gold is
found in veins of sulphuret of silver, of ferruginous
limestone, and of sandy quartz, all penetrating primitive
rocks.
But the localities of gold are by far too numerous to
be mentioned here; and this will be acknowledged,
when it is stated that few, if any of the metals, except
iron, are so universally disseminated as gold. Our
28 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
present object must therefore be, to point out to the
explorer the general characters of the countries where
- gold, and especially that of the surface, has been found;
and, particulaly to examine the question whether au-
riferous sands indicate, with any degree of certainty,
that the metal they contain has been derived from the
disintegration of rocks or mountains in the vicinity.
There is certainly a general impression, in the minds
of those who have not particularly examined this sub-
ject, that alluvial gold has been, at some former period,
washed down from the more elevated rocks or moun-
tains in the vicinity; and this, no one will deny, is a
fair, common-sense inference; for, if the gold and sand
have not a common origin in the mountain, why are
they so commonly found together ? *
But when we come to examine the geological local-
ities of alluvial gold, we shall find more difficulties to
decide where the precious metal comes from, than is
at first imagined.
The gold which comes from Africa, in the form of
dust or small particles, and which is brought from the
interior in quills of the ostrich or vulture, is always
found among the sands of that country, and often at
great distances from any mountain. Besides, the spe-
cific gravity of this metal being at least six times greater
than that of the sands in which it is found, it would
seem improbable that any power of water, short of a
flood, which should sweep away the hills themselves,
should float the particles of gold to any great distances.
P R E C I O U S MI E T A L S. 29
The only well grounded supposition, therefore, must be
that, if the gold came from the mountains by the power
of streams, it was contained in the fragments of au-
riferous ores or rocks, which were afterwards disinte-
grated by the influence of the sun and weather, thus
leaving the metal wherever such decomposition was
effected.
The manner in which surface gold is universally pro-
cured, is a sufficient proof that it cannot be floated
along on the surface of loose sand ; for we find that the
partial buoyancy of the sand by the water, and the mo-
tion thus given the coarser particles, allows those of the
gold, by their greater specific weight, to fall to the
bottom, and thus they are retained in the crevices of
the inclined plane.
It appears, from authentic reports, that the auriferous
sands of California are colored by the oxides of iron—
an ingredient, as we have already stated, very com-
mon, if not universal, in gold-bearing alluvions. It
might be inferred, therefore, that the precious metal in
this, as well as in other similar regions, at some distant
period, was carried to the plains in fragments of ferru-
ginous rocks by mountain torrents, and that the par-
ticles of gold were subsequently liberated by the de-
composition of such masses as hinted above.
This supposition being true, we should of course infer
that, by following these indications to their sources, we
should finally come to the rocks which formerly sup-
plied, or, perhaps, still supply, these sands with their
3%
30 - H IS T O R Y O F T H E
precious contents, and thus detect the gold embedded
in the original matrix; and, no doubt, the object is
worth the experiment. *
But it is a curious and unexpected circumstance in
the history of gold, that its existence in the sand of a
plain does not, with any degree of certainty, indicate
that it is also to be found in the neighboring hills; on
the contrary, we find few, if any examples recorded,
where auriferous veins have been discovered by follow-
ing these indications to their sources.
The ancient sources of gold in Nubia, Abyssinia,
Arabia and Spain, have for ages been exhausted.
These countries, as well as the Ophir of Solomon,
wherever that might have been, are believed to have
yielded only surface gold ; for we have no accounts in
the Scriptures, or in ancient authors, of any excava-
tions into the earth for the purpose of mining for gold;
nor is it believed such excavations still exist, which are
proved to have been the sources whence the ancients
obtained their gold. We must therefore infer that in
all these cases the fixed sources from which the metal
came either did not exist, or have remained to this day
undiscovered.
Another difficulty on this subject arises from the
fact, well known to gold searchers, that the metal is
often found at or near the terminations of streams, but
vanishes entirely as they ascend towards their sources.
In other instances the sands have been found aurif.
erous only in certain sections of the same valley or
p R. E. C I O U S M ET A L S. 31
water-course, though no change could be observed,
either in the color or quality of the soil, or in the direction
of the ancient stream by which it had been deposited.
Again, it has been found that certain river sands,
descending from mountains, have afforded no gold until
after their junction with other streams, or even after
they have passed through lakes, where, had they been
the bearers of golden treasures, they must have been
deposited. Thus the river Ticino, of Italy, is said to
afford no gold between its source and the lake Mag-
giore ; but, having passed that lake, its auriferous sands
are deposited. - *
The banks of the Rhine also contain gold in several
places ; but not a particle is found within hundreds
of miles of its source. The same thing is stated of the
river Ems, the sands of which afford no precious par-
ticles towards its source in the mountains, but only in
the plains through which it passes to reach the Danube.
It is true, that these facts and circumstances do not
prove, beyond all doubt, that no gold exists in the hills
from which, to all appearance, auriferous sands have
been washed ; but they certainly show that such sands
are by no means sure indications that such is the case.
When the quantity of gold is found to increase, in pro-
portion as the searcher approaches the mountains, this
circumstance would seem to indicate its source; and
no one, whatever his theory might be, would probably
fail to institute an examination into the secrets of such
a locality. -
, 32 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
(; H APTER IV.
REFINEMENT OF THE PRECIOUS METALS.
GoLD, as it is presented to us by the hand of nature,
is never in a pure or refined state ; but, as we have al-
ready stated, is alloyed, or mixed, with one or more
foreign metals. These are most frequently copper or
silver, and sometimes both. It also sometimes contains
minute portions of palladium or iron. The gold and
silver of commerce, in the form of coin, always contain
proportions of alloy. In gold coins this is also either
silver or copper, and sometimes both. This is added
in order to harden the metal, pure gold being so soft
as to be easily scratched or abraded by friction, and
hence, in this state, the distinctive figures impressed on
the coin would not only soon become obliterated by use,
but considerable portions would be lost by friction.
The color of the coin, to an experienced eye, indi-
cates the kind of alloy it contains. When this is cop-
per, it gives a decidedly reddish tinge to the piece;
when of silver, the coin is of a lighter color than pure
gold, and when of both these metals a medium color is
produced; the three kinds being readily distinguished
on comparing their colors with each other or with pure
gold. -
Manner of estimating the purity of Gold. The word
carat, used by all refiners and dealers in gold, and by
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 33
which its degree of purity is understood, is, accord-
ing to the traveler Bruce, derived from kuara, a small
red bean, which the ancients used for a weight of gold.
In weighing diamonds, the carat means a weight of 4
grains, the price being increased by multiplying the
weight into itself. Thus a diamond weighing 2 carats,
or 8 grains, being worth 10 dollars the carat, is worth
2 × 2 =4 × 10=40 dollars, while one of 10 carats is
worth 10 × 10= 100 × 10=1000 dollars, and so in this
proportion.
In reference to the fineness of gold, this term is used
to express the relative proportions of the pure metal,
and the alloy which the mass contains. At the English
mint the law directs that the mixture shall consist of 11
parts by weight of gold, and 1 of copper, thus making
in 24 parts, 22 of gold and 2 of copper; and this is called
22 carats fine, that is, # of gold and # alloy.
Pure gold is 24 carats fine, the alloy being reckoned
of no value ; and therefore if we consider each as con-
sisting of grains, then the fineness is expressed by the
number of grains of the pure gold. Thus a coin con-
sisting of 20 grains of gold and 4 grains of copper is
said to be 20 carats fine ; if of 18 grains gold and 6
alloy, it is 18 carats fine, and so on in this proportion,
whatever the mass or quantity may be. In the same
manner the fineness or purity of silver is estimated.
Refining Gold by Acids. Most of the gold used by
artists for gilding, galvanizing, and other purposes where
the pure metal is required, is obtained from the coin of
34 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
commerce, refined by various methods. This is done
by the gold-beaters, who, in this country, usually pur-
chase doubloons, or other foreign coin, for this purpose.
As this gold is seldom over 22 carats fine, and as only
the metal nearly pure, or 24 carats fine, can be drawn
into leaf, the 2 carats of alloy must be extracted. The
reason of this is, that the admixture of any other
metal renders the gold so hard and brittle that it can-
not be drawn into thin leaves. There is, however,
much difference in this respect, depending on the alloy-
ing metal; thus a small quantity of silver or copper, as
a grain or two in 24, though it will render the leaf im-
perfect, does not prevent it from being drawn under the
hammer ; while so small a portion of lead as the 2000th
part is said to render the gold so brittle as to prevent
its being drawn at all.
The coin being melted, is poured, in a small stream,
into cold water, which granulates, or divides it into thin
scales. It is then placed in a proper vessel, and cov-
ered with strong hot mitric acid, which, without affect-
ing the gold, dissolves out the alloy, whether it be silver
or copper; or the acid is heated and added in small
quantities until the action ceases. It is then poured off,
and the gold remaining at the bottom well washed, or
until the water is tasteless. If the solution is green,
indicating that the alloy was copper, it is thrown away,
or common salt is added to the washings, which, if it
produces a white precipitate, this indicates a portion of
silver, which falls down in the state of a muriate of that
1. R. E. C J O U S M ET A L's. 35
metal, and is saved and purified. The gold which now
remains at the bottom of the vessel is nearly or quite
pure, and being melted and cast into ingots, is ready
for use.
By the above method the metal is made sufficiently
pure for the Ordinary purposes of gilding, being 23} or
23; carats fine; the degree of purity depending on the
manner of conducting the process, and especially that
of granulating the coin, and the perfection with which
the alloy is precipitated. -
When gold of absolute purity is wanted, that which
remains after the action of nitric acid, as above de-
scribed, is dissolved in aqua regia, consisting of three
parts muriatic or hydrochloric acid and one of nitric,
assisted by heat. This solution is precipitated in the
metallic form, by the green sulphate of iron, (the cop-
peras of commerce,) and after being well washed, and
melted, affords gold of great purity, being 24 carats
fine. -
Refining by Cupellation. This method, probably dis-
covered by accident, consists in exposing the impure
metal contained in a porous cup, to a melting heat,
when the alloy is absorbed, while the pure metal re-
mains in globules on the bottom of the cup. For this
purpose the ashes of bones, being mixed with beer, and
properly tempered, like mortar, is pressed into a mold,
and dried, thus receiving and retaining their proper
shape. These cupels, or cups, are placed in a shield of
refractory clay, called a muffle, by which they are pro-
36 H IS T O R Y O l' T H E
's
tected from the intense heat of the furnace. The im-
pure gold, wrapped in sheet lead, is put into the cupel,
and this into the muffle, and the furnace heated to the
melting point of gold by means of charcoal. The door of
the muffle, which is a small oven, is them opened, to let
in the air, by which the lead and other base metals the
gold contained are oxidated, and sink into the porous
matter of the cupel, while the gold remains in a button
on the surface, and on cooling of the apparatus is re-
moved in a state of considerable purity. For this pur-
pose it is absolutely necessary that metallic lead, to the
amount of ten or twelve times the weight of the gold,
should be employed, and this, during fusion, seems to se-
lect from the pure or noble metals all the alloy they CO]]-
tain, and with these base mixtures, (the very purpose
for which the lead is added,) sinks with them into the
substance of the cupel, while their more precious asso-
ciates, gold and silver, (if the coin contains the latter.)
remain on the surface in fixed buttons or globules.
In this manner gold and silver are separated from all
the other metals, but not from each other. When
cupellation is employed as an assay, or test of the pu-
rity of gold, the coin or mass is first weighed, and hav-
ing been submitted to the process, is again weighed,
and the loss will show the per centage of alloys.
Quartation. Another method of refining or assaying
gold, is by what artists and workmen call quartering,
or quartation. This consists in first melting the gold
to be assayed, with three times its weight of silver,
P. R. E.C I O U S M ET A L S. 37
after which this compound is cupelled, and the button
rolled into thin sheets, and submitted to the action of
nitric acid, which dissolves all the silver, leaving the
gold untouched. The large proportion of silver is ne-
cessary, that the gold may not protect the former from
the action of the acid. By weighing the coin and silver
before the process, and the gold afterwards, the exact
per centage of alloy is ascertained.
Touchstone, or Basanite. This is a very convenient
as well as ancient method of trying the purity of gold.
The term is from the Greek basanos, the trier, and the
instrument is merely a little piece of dark silicious slate,
found in rolled modules, which the ancients obtained
from Lydia, and which it was believed was found no-
where else. But it is found that fine dark basalt, or
hornblende, answers equally well. -
If a piece of gold be rubbed on such a stone, a trace
is left, by the color of which, contrasted with that of
the stone, an experienced eye can form a good estimate
of its purity. The judgment is farther assisted by the
change of color which a drop of nitric acid produces
on the metallic trace, and which, as we have seen, dis-
solves any alloy the gold contains. By this simple
method, jewelers, by long experience, are able to judge
of the value of any specimen of gold offered them, so
that they require no other test of its value in making
large purchases of bullion or coin.
4
3S - H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
CHAPTER W.
INTRODUCTION OF THE METALS AS A NIEDIUM OF COMMER.C.E. .
IN the earliest, that is, the Scripture accounts of the
use of the precious metals as a medium of trade, we
find that they were estimated by weight only. Thus
the shekel and talent did not consist of one or several
pieces of metal of a specific weight or value, but of
quantities or pieces equal to certain weights. It ap-
pears, however, that at a later period, the shekel was a
piece of silver weighing about half an ounce, and its
value nearly fifty cents, our money. But in the time of
Abraham they went by weight, (Gen. xxiii, 16) as he
gave four hundred shekels by weight for a burying-
place.
Jewish Talent. The weight of the Jewish talent,
according to Dr. Bagster, was about 125 pounds Troy,
and its value in silver, estimated at its present rate,
about 1740 dollars. This was denominated a talent of .
silver, and consisted probably of many pieces, either in
the form of ingots, as they were cast, or of the same
hammered into various forms. It appears that, ages
after this period, what went under the name of ham-
mered money, consisted of pieces of gold and silver,
and perhaps copper, cut into certain lengths, and im-
pressed with a stamp, struck with a hammer, and hence
the name. It does not, however, appear that the an-
PR E CIO U S M ET A L S. 39
cient Jewish money had even this approximation to-
wards the art of coining, since ancient authors inform
us that the Lydians, long afterwards, were the people :
who first invented and issued coined money. -
It appears, according to the authority named above,
that the talent of gold was of the same weight with
that of silver, viz., 125 pounds, and that its value at the
present day would be 27,000 dollars, estimating the
ounce at 18 dollars. We find, however, that commenta-
tors differ materially in respect to the value of the an-
cient talent. Thus Dr. Adam Clark, who quotes Mr.
Reynolds as his authority, has estimated that the gold
which Solomon received annually, being 666 talents,
amounted to £4,683,675 sterling; but we know not on
what authority, or at what rate, this estimate is made.
The words are, I Kings, chap. x, ver, 14, “Now the
weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was
six hundred and three score and six talents of gold.”
This, according to the above estimate, is equal to about
twenty-three and a half millions of dollars, our money,
yearly income in gold only, without reference to the
silver, which we read, ver. 21, “was nothing accounted
of in the days of Solomon.”
According to Calmet, the precious metals expended
by the wisest of men in building Jerusalem and the
temple, estimated in sterling money, would amount to
eight hundred millions of pounds, or four thousand mil-
lions of dollars, American money.
Sources of King Solomon's Wealth. Here the ques-
40 H IS T' O R Y O F T H E
tion very naturally occurs, “Where did Solomon, at
that early period, obtain such vast quantities of the pre-
cious metals?” To this question it is difficult to offer a
very satisfactory answer. But it must be remembered
that Solomon lived many centuries after Abraham, and
that even in his time silver must have been a very
common article, otherwise four hundred shekels would
not have been demanded and given for a piece of land
no larger than was required to bury the dead of a
family. Taking the shekel at fifty cents, two hundred
dollars at the present day would buy a large plat of
ground as near any of our cities as would be required
for such a purpose.
We find also that the author of Job, whom some have
considered cotemporary with Abraham, was well ac-
quainted with the precious metals, and even the man-
ner in which they were procured. “ Surely,” says he,
“there is a vein for the silver, and a place for the gold
where they fine it.” In another place he says, “the
earth hath dust of gold.” These short passages show
that Job knew that silver is found in veins among rocks,
while gold more commonly occurs in small parcels on
the surface.
These circumstances, and many more of the same
import, contained in the earliest history of our race,
seem to prove that gold and silver were accumulated
in considerable quantities many centuries before the
building of the temple. And there is no reason to sup-
pose that they were lost, either by burying in the ground
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 41
or by shipwreck, or that they were appropriated, as in
after times, to domestic uses, as the manufacture of
plate, spoons, &c., or in the ornamental purposes of
gilding or jewelry. Hence we may conclude that the
precious metals continued to accumulate in the world
until the time of Solomon. (The loss by abrasion is
not here estimated, because the metals were not then
made into coin.)
We conclude, from the accounts, that all the petty
officers of state, called kings, in the Scriptures, had un-
limited power over their subjects; and we know that
in all ages, tyrants, whether great or small in respect
to dominion and power, took possession of all the pre-
cious metals discovered and collected by their people.
Indeed, the products of the mines in all monarchical
governments, down to the time of the Spanish Viceroys
in New Spain, were a monopoly of the crown, and
hence the money everywhere, in ancient times, was ac-
cumulated in the hands of the chiefs.
The Israelites, on their way to the land of Canaan,
undoubtedly collected much gold and silver from among
the tribes through which they passed. We find, also,
from the history, that the people, probably of the higher
cast only, must have possessed considerable quantities
of gold in the form of ornaments, before they left the land
of their servitude. That this was the case, is proved
from the circumstance that soon after their wanderings
commenced, there was a sufficient quantity of the pre-
cious metal collected to form a golden calf. Indeed, the
4%
42 H 1 S T O R Y O F T H E
history of the journey of this people almost everywhere
shows that gold and silver were common among them.
Thus the altar of incense (Ex. xxx,) was overlaid with
pure gold, and the “sides thereof round about, and the
horns thereof; and thou shalt make unto it a crown of
gold round about.” Ver. 3. Again, (Ex. xxxvi) in the
building of the tabernacle, it seems that much gold was
used. Thus, (ver. 34) “And he overlaid the boards
with gold, and he made their rings of gold to be places
for the bars, and he overlaid the bars with gold.” Af.
terwards, when Gideon defeated the Midianites, among
whom it seems there was a party of Ishmaelites who
wore golden ear-rings, he requested that every man
should bring the ear-rings of his prey. And the weight
of the golden rings thus delivered was “a thousand and
seven hundred shekels of gold,” besides ornaments, col-
lars, &c. By this we see that small quantities of gold,
by way of ornament, were very common, at least among
certain tribes at that day. Still, as above stated, there
is no doubt but the chiefs or princes, as in all absolute
governments, possessed in their own rights the largest
portion of the precious metals within their domains. It
is true, that private individuals sometimes possessed
considerable sums, perhaps privately, or by special per-
mission from authority. Thus, in J udges, xvii, we are
informed that Micah stole from his mother eleven hun-
dred shekels of silver, which was, however, afterwards
restored, and from which his mother took two hundred
shekels to form a graven and a molten image. This
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 43
was probably a wealthy family, for we find that this was
a sum set apart for a specific purpose, and therefore we
may suppose only a small part of what the mother pos-
sessed. -
Every reader of the Pentateuch will see that the
above are only a few passages, when compared with the
whole, which go to prove that gold and silver were com-
mon among different nations many centuries before the
time of Solomon.
It seems probable, from the sacred history, that this
great and wise prince came into possession of most of
the precious metals then known to exist, and that
through his commands they were concentrated at Jeru-
salem for the purpose of building a temple to the Lord,
a design which, during the life of David his father, had
been promulgated among the neighboring princes and
people. --- & *.
“It seems clear, then, (says Mr. Jacob, in his History
of the Precious Metals,) that when the peaceful reign
of Solomon commenced, the accumulated mass of gold
and silver must have been the collection of more than
eight hundred years, reckoning from Abraham, or of
near five hundred years since the Israelites, on their re-
moval from Egypt, had become an independent nation.
The spoil of the several tribes which was taken during
the theocracy was carefully preserved in the public
treasury, and was protected by the solemn sanction of
the religion of the Hebrews, which kept it in the taber-
nacle under the title of the Treasure of Jehovah. None
44 H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
of it could be destined to profane purposes without
incurring the guilt of treason against that great Being,
who was at once their spiritual and temporal sover-
eign.”
That the metallic wealth, which was accumulated at
the time of Solomon’s greatness, had not arisen solely
from the spoils of subdued nations, or from that which
had been deposited as sacred treasures, we may infer
from the commercial arrangements which his father,
David, had made with other nations, and from which
he received gold and silver, probably in large quan-
tities.
From the above statements no one can doubt that
Solomon had vast treasures of the precious metals in
his possession before the building of the temple com-
menced. Besides this, the amount which his ships
brought from Ophir, after a three years' voyage, being
four hundred and twenty talents of gold, was no small
addition to his former stock—being, according to Dr.
Arbuthnot, nearly ten millions of dollars. With respect
to the geographical situation of Ophir, commentators
have expressed various opinions. Some have supposed
that it was in Arabia, others in a remote part of Africa,
from the length of the voyage; while the traveler Bruce,
who has discussed the subject at length, believes that it
was in the vicinity of the river Zambeze, opposite the
Island of Madagascar, on the southern coast of Africa,
where gold and silver have been found in abundance
from the remotest antiquity—the length of the voyage
P R E C I O U S M ET A L S. 45
being accounted for in consequence of the monsoons,
which prevail at certain seasons of the year in that
climate.
CHAPTER VI.
ANCIENT SOURCES OF METALLIC WEALTH.
THE general diffusion of the precious metals among
the most primitive nations, of which history affords us
any account, suggests a very obvious inquiry as to the
sources whence they were derived. On this point, the
sacred history affords us very little information—Ophir
being the only country or locality mentioned from
which gold, in any quantity, was derived. Nor does
it appear that the navy of Solomon made more than
one voyage to that land. - $
Mr. Jacob, in his History of the Precious Metals, has
expended much time and learning on this part of his
subject, and seems to have examined every ancient
author who could afford any information on this ques-
tion. From his forty octavo pages, on “The Mines of
the Ancients in several parts of the World,” we derive
most of what follows in this chapter.
It is most probable that the precious metals were first
known to mankind in Egypt and the western parts of
Asia. Thus Darius, after the conquest of Babylon, de-
rived, by his law of taxation, from that country, a thou-
*.
46 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
sand talents of silver, and six hundred talents of gold.
The metals are supposed to have been derived from a
part of China, India, beyond the Ganges, Persia, Tar-
tary, Thibet and Siberia;-all of which countries pos-
sessed mines of the precious metals in the remotest times
of history, and some of them yield more or less gold at
the present day. In Siberia, modern travelers have
discovered the remains of extensive silver mines, which
appear to have been wrought by Nomadic tribes, before
the conquest of that country by the Tartars. Wedges
of copper and hammers of stone show that the miners
did not know the use of iron, and the want of any re-
mains of dwellings proves that they were savage tribes.
India and Persia. Alexander the Great derived, by
tribute, vast quantities of the precious metals from
Persia and India. Pliny mentions many of the places
which yielded these metals at that period, but denies
that two islands, at the mouth of the Indus, called
Chryse and Argyre, or Gold and Silver, have their
sands composed chiefly of these two metals, as some
have declared. * g
Nubia and Ethiopia. The chief mineral wealth of
the ancient Egyptians, at the time of the Pharaohs, was
derived from Nubia and Ethiopia. Before our era, the
abundance of brass from these sources was such that
the chief parts of the domestic furniture of the people
was made of it. Brass, at that period, was made by
mixing copper with a yellowish earthy substance found
in the ground, and melting them together. This sub-
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 47
stance, in after ages, proved to be the ore of zinc ;
though, for centuries, it was used to turn copper of a
yellow color, and increase its weight, without the least
suspicion that it was the ore of a metal.
The copper in these mines contained gold, which, it
appears, the miners had the art of separating, but we
know not by what means. The situations of these mines
are known at this day, but are supposed to have been
exhausted of their former riches. They were worked
eight hundred years before the Christian era.
The Egyptians are known to have been centuries in
advance of all other nations in the arts and luxuries of
life, and hence we find that they had the art of purify-
ing gold at the remotest period of history. Thus in
Exodus, xxv and xxx, in building the tabernacle,
Moses commands that certain parts shall be overlaid
with pure gold. This must have been done by fire, or
perhaps by cupellation with lead, as it is easy to sup-
pose that this process (which we have described.) might
have been accidentally discovered. The strong acids
were then unknown, so that they had no means of pu- *
rifying the metals by solution.
Riches of the Egyptians. Besides the passages in
Scripture, by which it may be inferred that the Egyp-
tians had considerable quantities of gold in the form of
ornaments, we have also the additional testimony of
Diodorus Siculus, who lived in the time of Julius
Caesar, and whose history professes to include a period
of more than one thousand years. With respect to the
48 El l ST () R Y O F T II E
riches of that people in the precious metals, he states,
in his description of the palace of the ancient Egyptian
monarchs, that an inscription, curiously carved, in the
royal cabinet, indicated the amount received into the
treasury per year, which was equal to about thirty
million of dollars our money.
Diodorus also states that after the burning of the
palaces of Persepolis and Susa, which were built by
the Egyptians, there was found and gathered up from
the fragments and cinders three hundred talents of gold,
and no less than two thousand three hundred talents
of silver. *
If the talent is estimated at one hundred and thirteen
pounds, according to Dr. Arbuthnot, the weight of gold
would be 33,900 pounds Troy, and that of silver 259,900
pounds. Now, these are vast sums, even at the present
day; for, if we estimate the gold at eighteen dollars the
ounce, which in coin is its present value, the three hun-
dred talents amount to seven million, three hundred and
twenty-two thousand, four hundred dollars. The silver,
estimating it ât one dollar and sixteen cents the Ounce,
amounts to upwards of three million six hundred thou-
sand dollars. -
Whether such enormous quantities of these metals
were ever in the possession of the Egyptian monarchs,
or whether such descriptions proceeded from falsehood
and vanity, cannot be known; but that vast sums of gold
and silver were in use, at that early period, is proved from
the circumstances and facts we have already stated.
P R E C I O U S M ET A L S , 49
Working the Mines of the Egyptian Kings. Diodo-
rus gives his readers an account of the manner of work-
ing the mines in the days of the Egyptian kings.
“There are,” says he, “infinite numbers thrust into
these mines, all bound in fetters, kept at work night and
day, and so strictly guarded that there is no possibility
of making their escape. They are kept to incessant
work by the nod of the overseer, who, besides, lashes
them severely. Not the least care is taken of the bodies
of these poor creatures. They have not even a rag to
cover them, and whoever sees them must compassionate
their deplorable condition. Neither female weakness,
nor that of old age, excuses them from their task, to
which they are driven with whips, until, worn out by
their intolerable misery, they fall dead on the spot.”
“Nature,” he continues, “teaches us that gold is ob-
tained by labor and toil; is retained with difficulty;
creates everywhere the greatest anxiety ; and, in its
use, creates both pleasure and grief.”
This picture, which applies to the working of mines
of the precious metals three thousand years ago, requires
little change to represent the same operations under all
despotic governments down to this day.
Mining operations of the Greeks. It is said that the
Phoenicians taught the Greeks the art of mining, and
that the first mines wrought in Europe were chiefly
carried on by Phoenician workmen. These mines were,
at first, in the islands of the Mediterranean, and yielded
chiefly copper and tin. Afterwards the Athenians,
{j
50 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
having learned the art, worked the rich silver mines of
Attica with great success. They also obtained gold
from Thrace, and from the island of Thaurus. From
these sources, and from conquest and consequent
tribute, did this people obtain the means of elevating
their city and state to that degree of splendor and mag-
mificence which has seldom been rivaled by any other
nation.
The same ancient author, Diodorus, states that Philip,
the father of Alexander, about three hundred and fifty
years before Christ, derived from the mines in Thrace
a yearly revenue of one thousand talents of gold. This
was probably the Attic talent, which was £198 sterling,
or nearly one thousand dollars our money.
Quicksilver. It appears that, although the Greeks
were acquainted with cinnabar, which is the sulphuret
of quicksilver, and even with that metal itself, they were
ignorant of its use as a means of separating gold from
the earthy matter with which it is found.
Mines of Italy. Pliny, who lived about the time of
the Christian era, states that Italy yields to no country
in its abundance of mines of all the several kinds of
metals. These mines still exist in some part of that
country; and especially in the vicinity of the river Po,
gold is found, at the present day, though not...in large
quantities. In the vieinity of the Alps gold was also
found among the sands, and, at one period, in such
quantities as to diminish its price one third of its former
value all over Italy. Afterwards, Strabo states, the
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 51
proprietors of these mines diminished the number of
workmen, in order to raise its value to the former
standard. -
Spanish Mines. Many parts of Spain, according to
ancient authors, afforded much gold and silver. These
mines were first worked by the Phoenicians; and, al-
though great quantities of the precious metals are said
to have been extracted from them, yet there are no ac-
counts which enable us to estimate the amounts. From
one mine, called Bebulo, it is stated by Polybius, that
after the Roman conquest, Hannibal obtained, daily,
three hundred pounds of silver. In another part of that
country, the same author says that the Romans em-
ployed forty thousand workmen in the mines, but with
what success we have now no means of knowing.
From the above statements we may infer that the
quantity of the precious metals obtained by different na-
tions, before the Christian era, must have been im-
mense; and hence that the vast wealth of the Romans,
to which we shall refer hereafter, is no matter of as-
tonishment, when we consider that a great proportion
of the precious metals in the world were concentrated
in that city, as they had before been in the city of
Jerusalem. -
52 H1's To R Y 0 F THE
CHAPTER VII.
.Accumulation of THE PRECIOUs METALS IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF
THE WORLD.
The most ancient account of the transfer of large
amounts of gold and silver to any particular country
or city, has already been detailed with respect to Jeru-
salem, and the profusion of gold in the possession of
Solomon. - g
While the Hebrews in the East were thus almost
overwhelmed with mineral wealth, the Greeks of the
West were so nearly destitute of them, that at a much
later period we find that Hiero, king of Syracuse,
sought, almost everywhere, to find a quantity of gold
sufficient to form a statue of the goddess Victory, and
which he finally obtained at Corinth. It must be re-
membered that, although Hiero lived nearly five hun-
dred years after Solomon, yet the communication be-
tween their nations, by way of trade, had not then
commenced, and that the circulation of coined money
was unknown. Gold and silver were used by the rich
to ornament their persons and their horses, and if ex-
changed in trade, it was by weight, and not by pieces
of a given value.
It is not, however, to be supposed, that from the days
of Solomon down to those of imperial Rome, that the
common people possessed, as individuals, any consider-
PR E CI O U S M ET A L’s. - 53
able quantities of the precious metals. These were
chiefly in the hands of princes, who universally had ab-
solute power over their subjects, and whenever con-
quests were made, the first law promulgated was that
the conquered should pay tribute in gold and silver to
their victors. Thus we find that the celebrated Croesus,
said to have been the richest of men, obtained his wealth
by tribute from surrounding nations, but chiefly from
the Greeks, which nation, we must therefore infer, had
at this period become rich in gold and silver.
Accumulation of Mineral Wealth at Rome. The Ro-
man historian, Suetonius, writes: “That the royal
treasures of Egypt being brought to Rome at the
triumph after the war of Alexander, there was such an §
abundance of money, that, the rate of interest being
lowered, a very great increase took place in the price
of land.” “After this,” he continues, “when money
flowed in from the confiscations, Augustus allowed the
gratuitous use of it, for a fixed time, to those who could
give security for double the amount.”
It is well known that the victories of Alexander, and
the consequent accumulation of the precious metals
into his treasury, served to distribute them from Persia
to Egypt, and from Egypt to Greece, and so to Rome.
The coffers of Darius, of Persia, one of the richest mon-
archs of the age, and the accumulated wealth of at least
a portion of Egypt, fell into his hands; and on the re-
turn of his army towards the west, the vast wealth thus
plundered from conquered nations flowed in the same
5%
54 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
direction. Thus, in the course of a century or two, a
large proportion of this immense mineral treasure fell
into the lap of the “mistress of the world.” This ac-
cumulation was partly obtained by the direct and usual
plunder of the coffers of all conquered tribes or nations,
and partly hy the taxation or tribute of those who had
made treaties with their conquerors, and partly by the
working of the Italian mines. No nation, not even our
mother-land, knew better how to accumulate by im-
posts, excise, taxation or tribute, than did imperial
Rome. Besides the tribute paid into her treasury by
distant provinces, whether friends or foes, there was
a heavy tax on most, if not all, foreign articles which
came within her gates, or even entered her dominions,
whether by sea or land. - *
Gibbon, in his Decline and Fall, has estimated that
the tribute which Rome received from her various
provinces, at a period somewhat before the Christian
era, amounted to the sum of nearly twenty millions of
pounds sterling, or about one hundred millions of dol-
lars. But this was only a single item of the amount
which flowed into the royal exchequer every year, for
we find that the mild and peaceful Emperor Augustus,
during his quiet and prosperous reign, imposed a tax on
the estates of all deceased persons, amounting to the
twentieth part of their property. Now this, at a period
when that city contained, it is said, at least two millions
of inhabitants, and many of them, as we shall see di-
rectly, of great wealth, the receipts into the treasury,
P R E CI O U S M ET A L's. 55
from this source, must have amounted to many hundred
thousands per year.
From all the above named sources, viz., tribute from
conquered provinces, imposts upon foreign goods, and
taxation on nearly every article of necessity or luxury
consumed by the living; and, lastly, a division of every
deceased man’s estate in favor of the government, it
can hardly have been otherwise than that there must
have flowed into the treasury of that great city at least
from one hundred and fifty to two hundred millions of
dollars per year. This, however, we do not profess to
offer as an estimate founded on any certain data, but
only on the historical facts above stated, and of which,
therefore, the reader can form his own opinion. Nor is
it probable that this immense revenue continued for any
great period of time, but only while the Roman' power
was at its height, and her citizens most numerous.
Says an able writer on this subject: “A succession
of events had brought to Rome the accumulated fruits
of the labors of mankind for a thousand years. There
had been a constant production, and but little consump-
tion of gold and silver; and, although these metals had
flowed to Rome as the centre of the world, yet the arts
and industry of the provinces had regularly received
back a portion of them in return for those luxuries and
necessaries which that great metropolis required. The
provinces were thus enabled to continue their contri-
butions to the wealth and luxury of the imperial city
through the Augustine age, after which there was a
56 If I Ś 'I' () R Y C) tº T' H [.
gradual diminution of the wants of the city, as well as
of the ability of her vassals to supply them.”
RICHEs of INDIVIDUAL Roman CITIZENs. Since the
days of Job it has been rare that great individual wealth
has been derived from the cultivation of the earth alone,
and it is equally true that small places seldom bring
great riches. It is, in our own times, in great cities
that men, either by merchandise or speculation, or
usury, become Croesus-like in their accumulations.
And so, according to Pliny, it was at Rome; and it
seems then, as well at the present day, the fortunes of
individuals sometimes were estimated ; and, no doubt,
then, as well as now, formed matters of interest, specu-
lation, or inquiry; for when was the time that masses
of gold did not interest our race? The author just
named, flourished sufficiently near the age of Augustus
to have derived the truth with respect to the estimated
riches of Roman citizens. From him and Suetonius
we select a few examples. The private fortune of the
Emperor Augustus, which he derived chiefly from the
legacies of deceased friends and relations, amounted to
thirty-two millions sterling, or one hundred and sixty
millions of dollars, our money. Cicero, the Orator, in-
dependent of his own exertions and earnings, received
from his clients, and friends, and admirers, as presents,
a sum equal to eight hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Caius C. Isiodorus, who it appears was a private citizen,
and had no other distinction, so far as is known, but his
wealth, and who was cotemporary with Augustus, left
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 57
behind him four thousand one hundred and sixteen
slaves, three thousand and six hundred yoke of oxen, and
two thousand and three hundred head of other cattle.
Besides which, though we are told he had lost much of
his property in the civil war, he had, in gold and silver,
a sum equal to about fifteen millions of dollars, our
money. Crassus, another private individual, is said to
have possessed, in lands, an amount equal to £1,614,583,
or $8,072,915; besides which, he left as much more
in money slaves and furniture, making the amount
equal to more than sixteen millions, present cur-
rency. And Tiberias is said to have left behind him a
sum amounting, in Our money, to nearly $110,000,000,
which fell into the possession of the tyrant Caligula, and
which, it is also said, he squandered in the course of a
single year.
We might continue these examples of the individual
and national wealth of the Romans, but our object
being merely to collect a sufficient number of historical
facts, to enable our readers to draw their own inferences
with respect to the amount of the precious metals accu-
mulated at the imperial city, we shall here leave the
subject by remarking, -
1st. The applications of gold and silver to various
purposes, by which they are lost or are employed for
domestic purposes, as at the present day, were unknown
to the Romans. Watches, plate, spoons, forks, and
many other purposes to which vast quantities of silver
are now applied, were the inventions of later times.
58 H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
Gold was used as personal ornaments; but gilding, which
now absorbs a vast amount, was rarely employed at that
period. .
2d. The diffusion of money among the common peo-
ple was very scanty, since a great proportion of the
labor was performed by slaves, who then, as at present,
received nothing but their food and clothing. Although
coined money was known to the Romans, it did not, for
a long time, pass currently as the common medium of
trade, but much of the business was carried on by bar-
tering one commodity for another, as is done among
aboriginal, and savage tribes at this day. Hence, if we
estimate the wealth of Rome as a city, by comparing
its treasures and a few of its richest individuals with
the same at the present day, making the number of in-
habitants equal, we should find, for the reasons above
assigned, that all ancient cities would fall far short of
those of the present time in the quantity of the precious
metals they contained.
C H A P T E R W III.
CONSUMPTION AND LOSS OF GOLD AND SILVER.
WITHOUT any special reference to the present in-
quiry, a historical sketch of Rome and her conquests
and colonies would bring the reader to the conclusion,
that it could hardly have been otherwise than that a
P. R. E. C I O U S M ET A L S. 59
vast amount of metallic treasure must have been con-
centrated in that city, and the above well authenticated
items of her history prove that this was so. And now
the inquiry suggests itself to every intelligent reader, as
to the disposition of all this treasure. Was it distributed
among other nations on the decline of the Roman
power ? Was it buried in the earth to any amount?
Were large portions of it worked into domestic arti-
cles, as plate, and other portions used in gilding picture
frames, &c. P. Were any considerable portions lost in
the sea 2 Or who can say that large quantities of these
identical metals are not still in existence? Who knows
that his ring, his watch, or his goblet, is not composed,
at least in part, if not entirely, of the very gold or silver
which made a portion of the treasure of Augustus or the
fortune of Crassus 2 And then who can deny that this
did not come from Egypt with Alexander's army P
And again, who says that this very precious metal did
not pass from Jerusalem, nay, even from Solomon's
Temple into Egypt, and so into the hands of Alexan-
der 2—thus, most probably, having had its origin at
Ophir ; or, perhaps, it is a part of that collected by the
children of Israel on their long journey, a portion of
which, undoubtedly, found its way to Jerusalem.
Now, all this is not only possible, but by no means
improbable, since we know that the precious metals
have, during the last five hundred years, been con-
stantly changing places in most civilized parts of the
world; and we have shown, in the course of this book,
60 H Is To R Y O F T H E
that similar transfers were not entirely unknown in the
remotest times of history. Besides, the greater part
of the precious metals employed in this country came
from the opposite side of the Atlantic, either in the form
of coin, plate, or ornaments; and this, in its turn, has,
in part at least, been re-coined or newly manufactured
from more ancient forms, which no one can trace to
their originals. As the precious metals are indestruc-
tible by age, and as it has often occurred that very
‘ancient articles, and even those of Egyptian manufac-
ture, have been found in the earth in various parts of the
Old World, who shall say that a portion of that now in
existence, and forming a part of the trinkets he or she
so much values, did not once enter into the composition
of the cherubim of the holy temple, and that it is not a
morsel of the 120 talents of gold which the Queen of
Sheba so kindly presented to the wisest of men P But
these are useless speculations; and now to the more
reasonable subjects of this chapter.
Roman Coins. Silver coins began to be used as
money in Rome about two hundred and fifty years be-
fore our era. The Greeks, a century before this
period, knew the art of coining, as is proved by the ex-
istence of medals bearing the head of Alexander. Du-
ring the reign of Augustus, who lived to A. D. 14, the
circulation of coin, chiefly of silver, became quite com-
mon at Rome, and probably, also, in most of her prov-
inces. The quantity, however, does not appear to have
been sufficient for business purposes, since we find that
P R F C I O U S M ET A L S . - 61
the precious metals still went by weight for a long time
afterwards. It is not improbable, however, that coins
went by weight when large payments were made, or
large quantities received, as is the practice at this day
with bankers and jewelers. The depreciation of weight
by the use of coin has often led to this test of value.
Loss By ABRASION. Those who purchase old silver
coin by weight are only aware what amount has been
lost by abrasion. The constant friction which goes on
between several loose pieces of metal carried in the
pocket from year to year, finally produces the effect
which every one has observed in pieces of old Spanish
coin. The smaller the pieces the more rapid the loss,
and the greater the aggregate amount. At first, the
sharp lines or angles forming the devices disappear, and
afterwards the legend, date and inscription, so that,
finally, no marks of the die are to be seen. If, now, the
piece be annealed, or heated to redness, the obliterated
device will again appear. The cause of this, though
not apparent to every one, is readily explained. The
same quantity of any metal will expand equally with
given increments of heat. In coining, the figures are
produced by the inequality of the die, and hence some
parts of the metal are concentrated by its force more
than others. Hence, when heated, the parts most con-
densed will rise highest. ... --
The quantity lost by abrasion is of course as entire
as though it was annihilated. Old picture frames and
ancient gold lace can be burned, and a portion of the
6
62. H IS T O R Y O F 'I H E
gold they once contained can be recovered. But the
waste by friction has no remedy; and any one who will
go with us into nothing more than a rough calculation
on this subject, will be astonished to find the amount
of the precious metals thus lost.
The English government, some years since, ordered
experiments to be made at their mint to ascertain the
probable loss which gold and silver coin suffered by
circulation. It will be seen that the loss to individuals
who took coin by tale, and sold it to the mint or to
manufacturers of metallic goods by weight, must, from
what we have said above, have been very considerable.
The record is as follows: “In the course of this year,
(1798,) the officers of the mint repeated the experiments
which had been made in the year 1787 respecting the
actual wear of the silver coins, from which it appeared
that a considerable loss had been occasioned by the
wear of eleven years only, for it was as follows.” Here
follows a table of crowns, half crowns, shillings and six-
pences, with their loss of weight and per centage, sepa-
rately carried out, and which is extracted as we find it
in Jacob's Inquiry on the Precious Metals, p. 404.
- 4-5
12# crowns, were requi- 12# crowns, -e 5
sº Qt)
27# half crowns, site to make 24# half crowns, U : :
82% shillings, a pound Troy, ) 62 shillings, .2 +:
200% sixpences, J instead of 124 sixpences, J 3 s
-* $4-
The deficiency amounted in the
Crowns to 3}} per cent. Shillings to 24}#} per cent.
Half crowns to 94%r do. Sixpences to 38%; do.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 63
It will be observed that the loss in the small coin in-
creases in proportion to its diminished size. In proof
of this, an experienced worker in metals, who is in the
habit of buying coin, informs the writer that he has
found that some lots of old Spanish silver, chiefly in the
form of shillings and sixpences, on being weighed, had
lost nearly 40 per cent. of their original value. The
time these had been in circulation of course could not
have been ascertained, the devices being obliterated.
MR. JAcob’s Estimate. This author, to whom we
have before had occasion to refer, has gone into certain
calculations with respect to the circulating coin in ex-
istence at Rome and in her colonies, at the time when
Vespasian succeeded to the imperial dignity, about A. D.
80. This sum he makes nearly equal to £322,200,000
sterling, or $1611,000,000, our money.
“Assuming, then,” says this author, “that this sum
was nearly the amount of the whole stock of current
money, we may, without relying on its precise accu-
racy, venture to make use of it as the foundation of an e
estimate of the loss created by abrasion in the period
we have brought under consideration.” This period
is from the death of Augustus, A. D. 14, to the dissolu-
tion of the western empire, about A. D. 496, forming
a period of 482 years.
Mr. Jacob estimates the loss by friction, at that time,
at a far less rate than at present, because the coin was
in larger pieces, and the circulation less common—the
money at that day being more commonly transported
64 H IS T O R. Y O F T H E
in masses, and often resting for a time in the hands
of the rich or in the treasuries of the government. The
loss by abrasion he therefore estimates to be equal to
one part in three hundred and sixty, annually. Thus a
piece of coin weighing 360 grains, would lose in a
single year one grain, or a thirty-sixth part in ten years.
It is not necessary, for our purpose, to follow the au-
thor in his calculations from one period to another—
it being sufficient to state that, at the termination of
the four hundred and eighty-two years, the original
sum of £322,200,000 is reduced by abrasion alone to
£87,033,099 sterling ; thus making a loss equal to
about 1,176 millions of dollars, our money, in less than
five hundred years. -
It is proper to state that in all estimates of loss by
the use of coin, the ratio of diminution becomes less
from one year to another; that is, new coin, in conse-
quence of its sharp angles, loses more by the same fric-
tion than old.
We can only offer the above estimates of losses by
abrasion as approximations to the truth, since it will be
seen from the very nature of the subject that nothing
certain can be known. It will however occur to every
one, who will notice the effects of this cause on old
pieces of silver now in circulation, that the diminution
is not only constant, but that it must be immense on
the currency of the world in the course of years.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 65
C H AP TER IX.
CONSUMPTION OF THE PRECIOUS METALS BY THE ROMANS FOR
DOMESTIC USES.
THERE is no reason for believing that large quantities
of gold and silver were employed by the Romans for
domestic utensils. The discoveries at Pompeii, which
was buried by Vesuvius in A. D. 79, are sufficient to
prove that its inhabitants were by no means extrava-
gant in this respect. This, at the time of its inhuma-
tion, was a populous and thriving city, and contained
many noble public edifices and costly private dwellings.
In some of these were found pictures, statues, books and
carved ornaments, all tending to display the taste and
wealth of the owner, and all destructible by time and
heat ; while nothing, of any considerable value, has
ever been discovered in the form of metallic utensils
of any kind. Neither spoon, fork, or knife of silver, or
gold, has ever been found among these ruins, which,
from the indestructible nature of these metals, would
undoubtedly have been the case had such articles been
common. That they were not removed during the
, alarm, seems to be indicated by the fact that money
and jewels, to a considerable amount, have been found.
It would appear, therefore, that the fashion of making
domestic utensils of the precious metals was not com-
mon among the Romans, though Gibbon quotes au-
6*
66 . H IS TO R Y O F T H E
thority to show that the rich senators “had each a
semicircular table of massy silver, such as two men
could hardly lift, and also a vase of solid gold, weighing
forty pounds, besides cups and dishes.”
We may them conclude, that although the patrician
families had some valuable articles of metal in their
houses, that this was not common, and therefore that
the quantity of gold and silver thrown out of circulation
in this way, though considerable, could not have been
immense, as we shall see is the case at the present time.
Loss of THE PRecious METALs by BURYING IN THE
EARTH. To account for the gradual disappearance
of the vast metallic wealth which it is certain the Ro-
mans possessed during the height of their power, we
must refer to several circumstances besides that of
abrasion and the manufacture of domestic goods already
noticed. One of these is secretion by hiding in the
earth, which, from the remotest times, people have been
in the habit of doing, whenever their country was in-
vaded by an army.
In about A. D. 400, Alaric, king of the Visigoths,
devastated most of Italy, and ten years after laid siege
to Rome itself. During this period, we cannot but sup-
pose that immense quantities of the precious metals
were hidden in the earth; and while we know that
treasures of this kind have often been found, still there
is every reason to believe that a large proportion still
remain in their original places.
In the early history of England it is stated that the
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 67
finding of hidden treasure was so common, that many
persons became rich by accident and without labor, and
a law was therefore enacted, by which all the money and
jewels thus discovered should, without benefit to others,
belong to the king. This was called “Treasure Trove,”
and from it a large revenue was often derived. This
law, we believe, is still in force, though seldom of any
benefit to the crown. - .
DISTRIBUTION of THE METALs by PLUNDER AND
oth ERwise. When Italy was overrun by the barba-
rians under Alaric, the chief towns were plundered of
all the valuable utensils which these savage conquerors
could secrete or carry away, and hence we must sup-
pose that a large proportion of the metallic wealth of the
country, which the owners had not buried in the earth,
fell into their hands, and was destroyed or conveyed out
of the country.
The history of Rome, at that period, also informs us
that large sums of gold and silver were paid to these
ruthless, victors by way of ransom. Thus Honorius,
when Rome was besieged by Alaric, gave that barba-
rian king five thousand pounds of gold, thirty thousand
pounds of silver, four thousand silk robes, three thou-
sand pieces of scarlet cloth, and three thousand pounds
weight of pepper, on the immediate payment of which
he stipulated to spare the imperial city from ruin.
Found ATION of BysANTIUM. The foundation of By-
Santium, the present Constantinople, by the first Chris-
tian emperor, and the transfer of the Roman power and
68 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
government to that city, must of course have transferred
also to that part of the country a large portion of the
metallic wealth of the former imperial city.
No estimate of the vast sums expended by the founder
on this new seat of the empire can now be made, but
we gather from history some items to show that there
was no want of money or of taste to indulge in the
utmost profusion of expenditure.
Constantine, says Gibbon, appropriated sixty thou-
sand pounds weight of gold to the construction of the
walls, the porticos and the aqueducts of his new impe-
rial capital, and drew to that city many of the patrician
families of Rome, by offering them extensive grants of
land in the Asiatic provinces, on the condition that he
should maintain in their new residences the splendid
palaces he had constructed for them.
Now, the sixty thousand pounds of gold, according
to the estimate of Mr. Jacob, is equal to £2,500,000
sterling, or $12,500,000. .
Prices of different Articles at Rome about A. D. 350.
A curious edict, fixing a very copious tariff of prices
at Rome during the reign of the Emperor Diocletian,
has been discovered within the last century. The
articles amount to several hundreds, a few of which
we insert for the use of the antiquarian. These prices
were in Roman denarii, and which have been transla-
ted into English currency.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S.
6
9
£ S. d. f s. d
Oil, first quality, per pint, . 0 17 6 At hearing the cause, at court, 32 6 0
A pheasant, fattened, . 7 19 0 | Honey, best, per pint, 0 17 6
Butter, Roman lb. e . 0 7 6 || A goose, fattened, . 6 2 0
Best river fish, lb. . . . . 0 5 3 | Lettuces, best, five, 0 2 5
Beef, do. . 0 7 6 || Onions, best, twenty-five, . 0 2 5
Laborers, farming, per day, 0 15 10 | Cucumbers, ten, 0 2 5
Stone mason, do. . 1 11 8 || Quinces, ten, . . 0 2 5
Worker in Mosaic, do. I 18 2 || Citron, large, twenty, 0 16 0
Wall painter, do. . 2 5 6 || Apples, forty, . 0 2 5
Figure painter, do. 4 16 6 || Melons, large, two, , 0 2 5
Schoolmaster, for each boy, per : I II 8 A beaver's skin, . * . 3 4 4
month, to teach letters, A leopard's or lion's skin, 32 6 0
For Greek and Latin, each boy, ! 6 8 8 The same made up, . . 40 0 0
per month, | Boots, without nails, . e 3 17 6
Lawyer, for application to court, 6 8 8 || Wine, best, English pint, . . . 0 10 0
Whether the edict, fixing these enormous prices,
both of articles of necessity and luxury, was due to
the abundance of gold and silver, or to the debase-
ment of coin, or the scarcity which prevailed at the
time, is unknown. The denarius, by which the prices
were estimated, was a silver coin, worth about 14 cents
our money, but whether its value had depreciated at
that time by debasement, we know not. As paper
money had not been invented at that period, these
prices could not have been owing to bank failures or
the inability of the government to pay.
*
CHAPTE R. X.
GREAT DIMINUTION OF METALLIC WEALTH FROM THE NINTEI CENTURY.
HAVING thus attempted to show from what causes
the gradual diminution of the precious metals is to
be attributed, from the time of the Augustan age to
70 |H IS T O R Y O F T H E
the division of the Western Empire, and the transfer
of the Roman power to Constantinople, we now pro-
ceed to show why this diminution continued, or in-
creased down to the eighth, ninth, and tenth centuries.
The causes already assigned for the disappearance
of the vast metallic wealth of Rome are abrasion, do-
mestic uses, burial, plunder, and transportation. To
these might have been added losses by shipwreck, and
consumption by gilding. With respect to the first, we
can only suppose that a nation having possessions and
colonies in nearly every inhabitable part of the earth,
and many of which lay beyond seas, must occasion-
ally have lost considerable sums of money by the de-
struction of their vessels. Even at this day, when the
science of navigation, and the art of ship-building
have advanced nearly to perfection, there are still im-
mense losses of all sorts of property, including the
precious metals, often in large sums. We may well
believe, then, that in their distant voyages, with small
vessels, as well as in those along the shores of their
own seas, accidents often happened, and that the Ro-
mans thus lost large quantities of their mineral wealth,
which of course could never again be recovered.
With respect to the art of gilding, it does not ap-
pear that the Romans understood how to reduce their
gold to thin leaves, as is practiced at this day. The
gold was hammered thin, and put on by means of size
or glue, but the sheets were still what our artists would
call thick, and probably could not be laid on so as to
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 71
produce a smooth, equal surface, such as we now see.
It seems, therefore, to have been rather plating than
gilding, and though none but the rich could afford this
sort of furniture, it is not improbable that consider-
able gold was lost in this way, for it is clear that but a
small proportion could be recovered after such a pro-
C6SS. • -
Unproductiveness of the Mines. (By mines is here
meant places where metals are found, whether on, or
beneath the surface.) The causes above enumerated
are sufficient to show how the greatest accumulation
of coin may be lost, or so distributed as no longer to
be in circulation, or to be estimated in the wealth of a
kingdom, or of the world.
Such causes, it is obvious, must have been more or
less in operation from the remotest antiquity, or from
the time when men first began to use the precious
metals; and hence it is also apparent, that in process
Of time, without addition from their sources, the
metals would cease to be a circulating medium, and
not only so, if kept in constant use, they would, to the
eye of man, cease to exist at all, being as masses, an-
nihilated by abrasion.
But during the time of which we are now speaking,
that is, from about A. D. 14 to 475, the mines of the
precious metals, in most parts of the world, had either
been abandoned, or ceased to yield any considerable
returns either to individuals or nations. The cause of
this, at least so far as concerns the Roman Empire,
72 H IS T O R Y O F T II E
appears to have been the derangement of the ancient
habits and business of the country, and perhaps the
poverty consequent upon the devastations of the Goths
and Vandals, which it appears everywhere produced
the effects of fire and pestilence upon the houses and
their inhabitants.
According to Gibbon, the decline of Roman wealth
began even before the incursions of the barbarians.
The administration of the Roman emperors may have
been one cause of the amazing desolation which had
become so obvious after the footsteps of the barbarians
had been seen in Italy; but another cause had been
Operating, which, from its almost imperceptible pro-
gress, may have equally escaped the observation of the
government and the notice of historians, of their
deeds. While the production of the precious metals
from the mines had ceased, and the countries near the
mines had poured the whole, or the greatest part of
their long accumulating treasures into the universal
empire, there would be a consumption, a decay of the
quantity of gold and silver in constant progress, which,
by lowering the metallic price of all other commodi-
ties, would check that industry by which, alone any
country can continue to prosper.—Gibbon's Rome.
We find from other sources that there was a con-
stant diminution of the circulating medium in Italy,
and probably all over Europe, for several centuries
after the period above specified, so that the premium
PR E c 1 o U S M ET A L's. 73
or money at Rome was double, or in many years triple
what it was during former times.
The working of mines for gold and silver, as above
stated, yielded little encouragement to the operators;
and finally, perhaps from the state of the country, or
from total want of success, they appear to have been
for several centuries entirely abandoned. Thus from
about A. D. 600 to 900, it is said “that the greatest
diligence has been able to discover no trace, in any
author, of the operations of mining having been car-
ried on by any of the Roman colonies.”
During all this period, there being no means of sup-
plying the constantly diminishing effects of several of
the causes already specified, it is almost obvious that
the precious metals, throughout the Roman Empire,
which then included most of the civilized world, be-
came exceedingly reduced in quantity. -
Indeed, Mr. Jacob, so often quoted, has again at this
period had reference to the effects of abrasion, as for-
merly described, by which, with several other causes,
he has reduced the circulation of gold and silver within
the Roman Empire, or in the world, at the time of the
discovery of America, to £34,000,000 sterling, being
in our money equal to $170,000,000.
7
“,
74 H IS TO R Y O F THE
CHAPTE R XI.
CONSUMPTION AND PRODUCTION OF GOLD AND SILVER FROM THE TENTH
CENTURY TO THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA.
WE have already seen that no records of mining op-
erations for the precious metals, or even any state-
ments of authors have been found, by which we can
gather any certain information on this subject for sev-
eral centuries, after the incursion of the barbarians
into Italy, and the foundation of Constantinople. *~
During the tenth century the mines of Saxony were
discovered, and these have been wrought for silver,
with various success, from about 1170 to this day.
Several mines for silver, in Germany, were also opened
during this and the next century. What amount of
the precious metals these mines yield, is unknown, but
that it was considerable, we may suppose from the fol-
lowing remark in Anderson’s Dictionary of Commerce.
It was the silver mines found in Germany, in the tenth
and following centuries, which gradually increased the
quantity of money and the price of necessaries, even
before the discovery of America.
About this period there seems to have been much
attention paid to the working of mines in many parts
of the world, probably owing to the universally low
state of the public finances. There having been little
if any accession to the precious metals for the last
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 75
four or five centuries, and the waste being constant, it
is obvious that at the period in question there must
have been a scarcity before unknown. Under such
circumstances, it is no matter of wonder that the
attention to mining should have become as universal
as were the wants of gold and silver ; and we accord-
ingly find that from the twelfth century to the dis-
covery of America, there seems to have been a Cali-
fornian rage all over Europe, to explore the earth in
search for her precious contents. In many, and even
in most instances, the mines which gave the greatest
hopes to the discoverers were found to be of short du-
ration, their precious contents being soon exhausted.
In very numerous instances, immense excavations, to
the entire ruin of the parties, were abandoned in hope-
less despair, the only returns having been obtained by
the first discoverer, near the surface. -
It is not within the design of this little work to
show the results of these individual operations, or to
give the names of the places where mines were
opened, or sands washed. Such a list, indeed, would
occupy many of our pages, while the names would be
useless to our readers. We will, however, name some
of the states or countries where such operations com-
menced, in order to show the almost universal mania
which prevailed on this subject, and by which it will
be seen that the present California ſever is only a
renewed paroxysm of a long since prevailing epi-
demic.
76 H IS T' O R Y O F T H E
As above stated, a few of these mines have con-
tinued profitable to this day, while most of them have
long since been either exhausted, or never yielded any
profitable returns. In Greece, Macedonia, Hungary,
Sclavonia, Wallachia, Transylvania, Tyrol on the
Danube, many places in Saxony, Prussia, Germany,
and Hanover, many parts of France, especially Lan-
guedoc, and various parts of Spain, mines were
wrought: also in the French Pyrenees, where the
mines gave high expectations. In Northern Europe,
the gold and silver mines in various parts of Denmark,
Norway, and Sweden, were celebrated for their riches.
Thus it is said, when Canute, of Denmark, who mar-
ried Emma, Queen of England, sailed to her country,
“the sterns of his ships had lions of molten gold, and
on the mast-heads were golden birds which turned with
the wind, and various dragons which threatened to
breathe out fire. There were also human figures, like
living ones, glittering all over with gold and silver.
The ships were so splendid that they seemed a flame of
fire, which blinded the eyes of all beholders, &c., thus
arguing the profusion of these metals that existed in
that country. It is said, however, that the English
Queen furnished a large proportion of these orna-
ments along with the crown of her country. In what
are now the British dominions, mines were wrought
in England, Scotland and Ireland. In the first coun-
try gold was found at Cornwall, in the second at the
Grampian hills, and in the third at Wicklow. Russia
P. R. E. C 1 O U S M ET A L S . 77
and Siberia also had their gold and silver mines, some
of which formerly yielded considerable quantities of
metal, but those now existing at the Ural and Altai
mountains, and which we shall have occasion hereafter
to mention, had not then been discovered.
The localities of these mines are most of them
known at the present day only by the excavations or
mounds of earth thrown out by the ancestors of the
present races, few of them having been worked during
the last hundred years, the greater number having
been abandoned ere the discovery of those of South
America. Those of Hungary, Saxony, and a few
others, are still wrought with profit.
CHAPTER XII.
EFFECTS OF THE SCARCITY OF MONEY ON THE PRICES OF COMMODITIES.
NoTwitHSTANDING the number of mines above speci-
fied, and which indicate that a general search for the
precious metals had been almost everywhere under-
taken, it does not appear that the quantities actually
obtained were sufficient to supply the diminution
occasioned by the uses of these metals, and the
other causes mentioned. -
Their high prices in England are indicated by many
circumstances in the history of that country. Thus
Edward V, about 1400, enacted, “that no artificer, or
7%
78 H Is To R Y o F THE
other man, shall henceforth gild or silver any locks,
rings, beads, candlesticks, harness or girdles, chalices,
hilts, nor pommels of swords, nor covers for cups
made of copper, upon pain of forfeiting to the king
one hundred shillings.” -
This law appears to have been made not only for
the purpose of preventing fraud in the sale of plated
or gilded goods for solid metal, but also to prevent
the conversion of the circulating coin into articles
of extravagance or luxury. Almost the only coin
then used in England were bysants, or bezants, so
called because they were struck by the Romans at
Byzantium, now Constantinople. A pound troy of
gold was coined into 72 of these pieces, and to show
their value during the latter part of the tenth century,
we are told that the celebrated St. Dustan bought of
King Edward the manor of Hendon in Middlesex,
for two hundred bezants, or a little more than three
pounds weight of gold, being less than seven hundred
dollars our money, and which Camden, three hundred
years ago, did not consider the hundredth part of its
value.
But a more striking illustration of the value of
money at this period, is the following list of articles,
with the prices, in the reign of Ethelred, towards the
close of the tenth century, as quoted by Dr. Henry.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 79
Sterling. Sterling.
£ s. d .8 s. d.
'Price of a man, or slave, . . . 2 16 3 | A cow, . . 0 6 2
A horse, . . . . . . . . 1 15 2 | A swine, . 0 1 10%
A mare or colt, . . . . . . . 1 3 6 A sheep, . . 0 1 2
An ass or mule, . . . 0 14 l | A goat, . 0 0 4%
An ox, . . . . . . . . . 0, 7 0%
We must leave it to our readers to estimate the com-
parative amount of circulating money at that period
and the present, allowing for the population of the
world, and taking the above prices and those of the
same commodities at the present time, as the grounds
of calculation.
If these prices be compared with those of Rome,
about six hundred years before, as given in Chap. II,
it will be observed that a pound of beef at the impe-
rial city, in the reign of Diocletian, cost within a half-
penny, the price of an ox at London, in the days of
King Ethelred.
These great differences in the prices of the neces-
saries as well as the luxuries of life, must no doubt be
sought for, at least, in a great measure, in the abun-
dance of metallic wealth at one time, and its scarcity at
another. But whether or not there were circumstances
besides these, by which so wide a difference was pro-
duced, we have not at this day any means of deciding.
Prices of Commodities in France—9th and 10th
Centuries. There are circumstances which clearly in-
dicate that in France, at the period above mentioned,
there was, in common with England, so great a want
of coin, that the reigning monarch, in his whole king-
dom could not raise a sum, which, at the present day,
Š0 Ił I S '1' U R Y O Í' 'I' If jº
passes through the hands of some merchants of the
higher grade every month in the year.
Thus history informs us that Charles the Bold, to-
wards the close of the ninth century, when projecting
a military expedition against Italy, could only raise,
by every method in his power, and some of them
were by no means lenient, the sum of ten thousand
marcs, an amount equivalent to about ninety thou-
sand dollars of the present time. *
At a period somewhat earlier, if we take the price
of bread as the standard of the value of money, and
this in common years has ever been considered a good
test, we shall find a still greater contrast between that
age and the present. In France, the price fixed for
twenty-four pounds of wheaten bread was one denier,
equal to three pence sterling, or nearly six cents, our
money. In Saxony, a bushel of wheat weighing sixty
pounds, which is nearly our bushel, was sold at about
the same period, at a price equal to four pence, our
money, this being the usual cost.
Price of Labor. The price of labor has always
been considered one of the most sure criterions of
the price of bread; the first being the means among
the poor by which the latter is gained. Hence, in
all countries where money is scarce, or is not paid for
daily labor, (which has often happened,) it has been
customary to fix the price of a day's work at a given
quantity of corn, or flour, either by measure, or weight.
As a specimen of the price of labor, thus indicating
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 81
the excessive value of coin, we give the following:
King John, of France, even so late as the beginning
of the fourteenth century, among other kinds of labor,
fixed the price of that of threshing wheat, and by
which it appears that for fifty-four bushels, the price
was five shillings, or about one penny and a quarter
per bushel.
At that period not only the price of manual labor,
but of clerical performances, show the high value of
the precious metals.
Thus it was enacted by Henry V., of England, 1417;
“That the yearly salary of chaplains shall be £9 6s. 8d.,
and that of parish priests £12;” and by Edward III it
was “ordered that no man shall give a parish priest
more than £10 a year, OT, in lieu thereof, his board and
£4 yearly.” *
Maintainance of a Bishop and the Prices of Luxuries
in the 14th Century. In 1805, the Bishop of St. An-
drews was imprisoned in the Tower of London for his
adhesion to Robert Bruce, and being a personage of
high rank and estate, and his maintainance an affair
of the government, we may suppose that an extra al-
lowance was made in behalf of such a dignitary. It
was as follows:
For the Bishop's table, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6d. per day.
For one man servant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3d. “ “
For one boy servant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13d. “ “
For a chaplain to say Mass, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13d. “ “
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12d.
82 H Is To R Y O F THE
This may be considered equal to sixty cents at the
present day. In 1496, Lady Anne, daughter of Ed-
ward III, was married to Lord Howard, son of the
Earl of Surry. This noble lady was allowed “for her.
exhibition, sustenation and convenient diet of meat and
drink; also, for one gentlewoman, one woman, one girl,
one gentleman, one yeoman and three grooms, in all
eight persons, £80 12s. per year, which included their
clothing, keeping and wages.” Besides this, she was
allowed £25 10s. 4d. for the maintainance of seven
horses, being about five hundred and twenty-five dol-
lars—a sum which, being doubled, would no more
than suffice a merchant’s clerk in one of our large cities
at the present day, and yet it seems this was the royal
allowance for a king's daughter, with her eight servants
and seven horses. It may be observed, that the above
period was about that of the discovery of America, but
we shall see that many years elapsed before the pre-
cious metals from New Spain affected the monetary
affairs of Europe.
The price of wine, a luxury in which the rich only
could indulge, is another proof of the high rate of
money at the period in question. This was a foreign
article, and therefore its price indicates the value of
the precious metals in other countries as well as in
England.
It appears that for several centuries, and in various
countries, during the dearth of circulating coin, the
regulation of prices was exclusively in the hands of the
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 83
governments. We have already mentioned many in-
stances of this kind, and when it extended to the abso.
lute necessaries of life, as corn and bread, it no doubt
bore heavily upon the poor, while it equally favored the
rich. It seems, however, that, during several reigns, the
nobility of the land were forbidden to pay over a cer-
tain price for their wines; such laws probably being
all designed to keep the money from passing out of the
realm, as well as to prevent the more extravagant from
spending their substance for a luxury in which all pa-
tricians indulged at that day. º
During the reign of Richard II, in 1381, it was en-
acted that Gascon, Spanish and Rhenish wines should
be sold at retail for Is. 3d. per gallon, and Rochelle
wine at 10d, the gallon.
The quantity of this luxury consumed in that age of
extravagance, notwithstanding the scarcity of money,
if we take certain of the nobility as examples, would be
deemed enormous even in these times of plenty. Thus,
in Stowe's Survey, is an account from the treasurer of
the Earl of Leicester, by which it appears that the am-
nual consumption of wine by that nobleman's house-
hold was three hundred and seventy-one pipes, at the
cost of £2 10s. 10}d. per pipe.
Now, the average capacity of a pipe of wine is one
hundred and twenty gallons, so that the consumption
in the Earl's establishment was about one hundred and
twenty-four gallons of wine per day.
84 H IS TO R. Y O F T' [H #.
C H A PTE R XIII.
EFFECTS OF THE CRUSADES ON THE MONETARY AFFAIRS OF EUROPE.
WE have not yet adverted to the crusades, so inti-
mately connected with the history of the middle ages,
as one of the most fruitful sources of expenditure and
poverty which existed during the eleventh and twelfth
centuries. The attempt to rescue Palestine from the
infidels was the monomamia of that period; and while
the coffers of nearly every prince in christendom were
drained to carry on that holy war, thousands of farmers,
mechanics, and merchants, putting on the armor of the
cross, and seizing the sword of the spirit, marched for-
ward—often they knew not whither—determined upon
victory or death.
A detail of the circumstances and consequences of
this warfare, it is well known, fill many volumes. But for
our purpose it is only necessary to say, that for two
centuries there was hardly a family in Europe which
did not, in one way or another, feel the effects of what
was then considered the most glorious and holy attempt
ever undertaken by mortal man. Agriculture, com-
merce, arts and education were all neglected, and by
all ranks, under a common distemper of the imagina-
tion, which made the redemption of the Holy Land an
object paramount to every duty and every considera-
tion which this world could afford, Many of the Euro-
P R. E. C I O U S M ET A L S. 85.
pean sovereigns left their thrones, and while leading
armies of their own people to the seat of war, and think-
ing only of the glories of victory over the infidels, do
not appear to have given a thought to the consequences
which were to result from leaving at home, without
rulers, and in poverty, the old men, women and children,
who were thus to become the prey of those men who
were too wicked to join in so holy and just a warfare.
The consequences of such a condition of society on
the prosperity and wealth of any nation or country, did
not fail to produce the disastrous results which might
have been expected. And when we learn from the
history of that period that such was the general anxiety
to embark in crusades, that kings pledged their jewels.
and even their crowns—that nobles sold or mortgaged
their estates—that churches and monasteries converted
their sacred utensils and ornaments into money, all for
the purpose of raising funds and equipage for the Holy
Land, Ourimaginations can paint, in some degree, the pov-
erty, and often wretchedness, which remained behind.
The framework of society was in a measure broken
up, and the business operations of all classes either de-
ranged or so far interrupted as for a long time to fail
of their usual products. Such were the effects of the
crusades in Spain, France, Italy, Germany and Britain.
Thousands went never to return, and thus a general
drain from all these countries, of money, men, horses
and equipments, was continued for more than a hun-
dred and fifty years.
8
86 H I 3 'i O It Y O F T li E
It is true, that immense booty was captured and car-
ried away from Jerusalem, and from many other cities,
by these holy warriors; but it does not appear that any
considerable amount of these treasures ever found their
way to Europe by the remnants of the armies which
returned. It will be seen, therefore, that the crusades
were among the causes which produced that scarcity
and consequent high value of money in Europe, the in-
dications of which have been already detailed.
(; H A P T E R XI W.
DISCOVERY OF AMERICA AND INFLUX OF THE PRECIOUS METALS INTO
EURO PE.
IT appears that down to the period of the reign of
Henry VIII, of England, who ascended the throne in
1509, the quantity of gold and silver in Europe had
been for centuries constantly diminishing, the causes of
which we have already sufficiently detailed. It is true,
that the rapidity with which this decrease had pro-
ceeded, was in a degree prevented in the latter part of
that period by the simultaneous exertions of many na-
tions to derive the precious metals from the mines, as
already described. But still it appears from the state-
ments of authors on this subject, that there was a
gradual decrease of money down to the time specified.
From this period, when the effects of the mineral
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 87
treasures of the Spanish mines, in South America, be-
gan to be felt in Europe, there was a proportional ad-
vance in the prices of all sorts of commodities, and
consequently a gradual depression in the value of the
precious metals. -
It is surprising to observe how speedily the rich
availed themselves of the means of luxurious display,
when the products of the American mines began to
flow in the form of bullion or coin into foreign coun-
tries. Thus we find that Cardinal Wolsey, the ex-
travagant minister of Henry VIII., according to Stowe,
had the following accommodations, at Hampton Court,
- for the entertainment of foreign ambassadors and other
guests.
Of beds, two hundred and eight were provided for
guests. Every chamber had a basin and ewer of solid
silver, and some were gilt ; yea, and some chambers had
two livery pots provided with wine and beer. Every
chamber had a candlestick having in it two sizes, yet
the cupboards in the banqueting rooms were not once
touched. The same chronicler says that, at a feast of
the ambassadors, “two cupboards, extending across the
banqueting chambers, were piled to the top with plate,
and illuminated; and, without encroaching on these re-
positories, there remained quite enough for the service
of the tables.” At the downfall of the minister, it ap-
pears that his plate was seized and inventoried, by the
record of which we learn that the amount was nine
thousand five hºt) dred and sixty-five ounces—an enor-
88 H Is To R Y o F T H E
mous sum, when it is considered that silver was at least
three times as valuable then as now.
Small quantity of Gold first obtained from the New
World. There is little doubt but the high expectations
of the Spaniards, who, on landing, saw the natives or-
namented with pieces of pure gold, were afterwards
greatly depressed ; for several years elapsed before any
considerable amount of that metal was obtained, either
by purchase with toys, or searching in the sands.
Many of the natives, it appears, had small quantities of
gold dust, which they readily exchanged for ornaments
or toys of small value. One of the best articles for ex-
change was hawk's bells, the poor Indians readily giv-
ing a handful of gold dust for a single bell.
It seems that all the gold the natives had, was picked
up in the sands of rivers, and of course, without any
regular method of searching or washing; and, although
the Spaniards did not fail to obtain every grain in their
power by whatever means they could employ, yet from
all accounts, this quantity was so small, that Humboldt
estimates the amount which America furnished to Eu-
rope during the first eight years, from 1492 to 1500, at
only about two hundred and sixty thousand dollars a
year. This amount was greatly increased afterwards;
but it must be remembered that the vast riches of the
South American mines was in the product of silver, and
not gold.
We cannot here trace the history of the conquests
of Hispaniola, of Peru and Mexico, it being sufficient
P R E C I O U S Mil E. T.' A L $. 89
for our purpose to state that as soon as the Spanish con-
querors found themselves in possession of lands con-
taining gold or silver, they reduced the original in-
habitants to a state of the most cruel bondage, requiring
them to labor in the mines with only food and clothing
sufficient to enable them to work for their masters.
Thousands who had always enjoyed the mild and
pleasant climates of these sunny plains, were driven to
the snowy mountains, where, with little clothing, being
benumbed by the cold and worn down by fatigue, their
cruel masters had constant recourse to the lash to
stimulate them to exertion and prevent them from sink-
ing into torpor, which often ended in death. These
were the means by which old Spain derived those im-
mense treasures, which at first made her the envy, then
the scorn, and now the insignificant, among nations.
NATIVE METHOD of SMELTING SILVER OREs. Al-
though nothing inferior to gold is at present sought in
California, still, silver mines may yet be found in that
country. It is on this account that we insert the fol-
lowing simple method of obtaining silver from its ores,
which was that employed by the native Peruvians be-
fore the arrival of the Spaniards among them.
The smelting was performed in small portable fur-
naces or cylindrical tubes of clay, made wide and .
pierced with many holes to admit the air. These holes
were both on the sides and at the bottom. In these
furnaces the Indians placed layers of silver ore, galena,
or ore of lead, and charcoal. Having set the charcoal
8%
90 - H IS T O R Y O F T H E
on fire, the air passing through the holes quickened the
process and made the heat so intense as to melt the
silver which run down into a pot below. These fur-
maces were moved from one place to another as occa-
sion required, and the silver thus obtained from the
mountain or mine, was again melted and purified by the
natives at their cottages. This latter method was per-
formed thus: the fire being made with charcoal in the
clay furnace, in order to obtain a high heat, ten or
twelve persons assisted, each with a copper tube, three
or four feet long, with a small orifice at the lower end.
Standing around the furnace, they all blew through their
tubes on the fire, the effect being like that of the modern
blowpipe, and thus an intense heat was produced. In
this manner, it is said, the natives obtained silver in a
tolerable state of purity. -
CoNGUEST of MEXICO. Cortez finished the conquest
of Mexico in 1514, twenty-two years after the discovery
by Columbus. The presents he received, as he advanced
towards the capital, amounted, according to his own
account, to $375,000, chiefly, if not entirely, in gold;
and Montezuma, on taking the oath of fidelity to the
king of Spain, was made to pay, in the form of tribute
to his conquerors, $325,000 more. In addition to these
sums, it is stated by Bernal Diaz, that the Spaniards
took by plunder, on their journey to the Mexican capital,
$400,000—making, in the whole, $1,097,000. This
sum was probably divided among the adventurers, but
in how long a time we do not know. But this, as all
*
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 91
our readers know, is only as the dust of the balance
when compared with the sums which these ruthless
marauders afterwards received, and is only mentioned
here to show that the natives had considerable quan-
tities of the precious metals, and must have known
something of the art of mining before the arrival-of
Europeans among them. -
MINEs of CERRo DE Potos1. The celebrated mines
of Potosi were discovered in 1545, and of their riches
every one has heard from the days of his childhood.
Up to the time of this discovery, Baron Humboldt
estimates the amount of gold and silver, which the
Spaniards had received from the New World, to be
equal to about $85,000,000. (Humboldt, who visited
New Spain in person, and who took unwearied pains to
arrive at the truth, is considered the best authority on
the finances of that country down to the time of his visit
in 1803.)
The mine of Potosi is said to have been discovered
by an Indian hunter, who, in climbing up a steep place,
pulled up a shrub by the roots, about which he observed
filaments of pure silver. On further examination, the
quantity of silver was found to be enormous, and the
fame thereof spreading, there soon sprang up a con-
siderable city near the spot, the inhabitants of which
perforated the hill on all sides in search of the precious
metal. -
From certain documents left by Cobos, secretary to
the Emperor Charles V, of Spain, and who had granted
–92 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
him a per centage on the entire product of this mine, it
is inferred that Potosi produced for the first ten years,
viz., from 1545 to 1556, an annual income of £440,000
sterling, or $2,200,000. In the ten years, therefore, the
product was $22,000,000.
The per centage, or impost, which amounted to a
fifth of the produce of this mine, was called the Cobos
of Potosi, from the name of the secretary to whom it
was granted for the term of twenty-two years, from
1556 to 1578. t
Humboldt procured correct returns of this Cobos for
a series of years, but not for the whole period during
which the amount is here estimated. But it is sup-
posed that the increased experience, and probably the
increased number of the workmen, would warrant the
belief that the product of the mine rather increased than
diminished, after the first ten years. But, allowing it
to be the same as above estimated, then we have from
1556, the end of the first ten years, to 1578, the end of
the Cobos, a period of twenty-two years. Estima-
ting these as before, at £440,000 sterling, we have for
the twenty-two years the very respectable sum of
$48,400,000. *
From 1579 to 1600, being a part of the period during
which Humboldt obtained authenticated returns of the
mine, it is estimated that the product had increased
about £40,000 sterling a year, making an income of
£480,000, annually, for twenty-one years; making the
amount, for this period, $50,400,000. Thus in fifty-five
PRECIO Us M ET A L's. - 93
years, that is, from the discovery of Potosi in 1545 to
1600, it appears that this mine alone yielded an amount
equal to $120,800,000. In addition to this sum, that
which Cortez received from the Mexicans, as already
stated, being $1,097,000, makes the entire amount
nearly $122,000,000.
Within the above period many silver mines had been
opened in various parts of the Spanish possessions in
America, but we have no means of ascertaining the
income they had produced; but it is believed that up
to the period in question, the amount was inconsider-
able, the riches of Potosi having attracted the chief at-
tention of the Spaniards at that time. We shall have
occasion hereafter to advert to the number of mines
wrought in Mexico and their estimated products.
CHAPTER X W.
EFFECTs of THE AMERICAN MINEs on THE PRICEs of commodities
IN EUROPE.
IN Chapter X, we have seen that the estimated
amount of the precious metals in the Roman Empire,
or rather in the civilized world, during the 10th cen-
tury, had been reduced, according to Mr. Jacob, to
about $170,000,000.
At a later period there arose a general mining spirit
all over Europe; and in addition to this, the news of the
94 -- H IS TO R Y O F T H E -
vast quantities of gold and silver found in America,
operated as a new incentive to prosecute mining opera-
tions in that quarter, so that even before the products
of Potosi reached the Old World, it is probable that
metallic wealth there was rather increasing than di-
minishing.
There is no doubt but the high expectations from
America had an effect on the prices of commodities in
Europe, before there was really any great influx of the
precious metals from that country. But the addition of
twenty-two millions to the cash capital of the world,
thus increasing the amount before existing more than
one half, could not but have been sensibly felt, espe-
cially in the central parts of Europe.
In order to show the effect which this new impulse
had on prices, we will quote the rates of wheat for sev-
eral years, before and during the period in question.
The Chronicle of Prices shows that wheat for twelve
years, from 1551 to 1562, had an average, per quarter,
of 8s. 10d. in England. The quarter being eight bush-
els, the price, it will be seen, was only Is. 1 #d. per bushel.
From 1593 to 1602, being ten years, the average was
33s. 3d, and from 1603 to 1612, it was 33s. 4d. Here
we see an increase of about fourfold, or 400 per cent.,
depending, to all appearance, entirely on the increase
of the precious metals.
As an example of the advance in rents, we give an
extract from a sermon of Bishop Latimer, preached be-
fore King Edward VII, 1548, in which he inveighs
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 95
against the extravagance and high prices of the times,
probably never suspecting that the changes he com-
plains of were owing to the plenty of gold.
Says the Bishop, “My father was a yeoman, and had
no landes of hys owne, onely he had a farme of three
or four poundes by the yeare at the uttermost, and here-
upon he tilled so muche as kept half-a-dozen men. He
had walke for a hundred sheep, and my mother milked
thirty kyne. He was able, and did finde the king a
harnesse, with himself, and his horse. I can remember
that Ibuckled the harnesse when he went to Blackheath
field. He kept me to schole, or I should not be able to
preach before the king's majestie now. He married
my sisters with five pounds, or twenty nobles a-piece,
so that he brought them up in godlinesse, and in the
feare of God. He kept hospitalities for his poor neigh-
bors, and some almes he gave to the poore, and all this
he did of the said farme.” Now for the contrast. The
bishop proceeds: “while he that now hath it (the
farm,) payeth sixteen pounds by the yeare, or more,
and is not able to doe any thing for his prince, for him-
selfe, nor his children, or to give a cup of drinke to the
poore.” We cannot say how long before this sermon
the bishop was a boy, and lived with his father, but the
battle of Blackheath, for which it seems he prepared
him by buckling his harness, was in 1497, and the rise
on the farm from three or four, to sixteen pounds, might
have commenced about that time.
These two examples, showing an advance of four
96 H IS T O R Y O F T II E
hundred per cent. on two of the prime articles of life,
grain and rent, are a sufficient indication of a sim-
ilar rise in other, if not most commodities in England;
and there is reason to believe that in the course of about
fifty years, a similar advance took place in all the king-
doms of Europe.
A Spanish author says that he who had one hundred
reals before the discovery of America, was as rich as
he who had five hundred afterwards. And again,
“The great quantity of gold and silver which fell into
the hands of the king of Castile caused it to fall one
sixth of its value.” -
CHAPTER X W I.
FFFECTS OF THE INCREASE OF GOLD AND SILVER ON COMMUNITIES.
THE vast additions which are expected to be made
to the existing quantities of the precious metals in our
country, from the gold regions of California, make it
important that we should inquire at this place, what
effects will be produced on the prosperity and happiness
of our country, provided these expectations are realized.
We are aware that this question affords scope for a
volume much larger than the one now in hand, but to
which we can only devote a page or two.
In reference to the sudden influx of gold on the state
precious M ET als. 97
of society, an English writer, speaking of Potosi, makes
the following remarks: “It would naturally be imagined,
at a time when money was looked upon almost exclu-
sively as wealth, that any addition to it would have
been hailed with joy—that every individual and each
community would have been gladdened at the know-
ledge that they were becoming more rich than they had
before considered themselves; and this was the feeling.
The very reverse of this, however, appears to have
been the consequence, for complaints and distress were
never so frequent and loud as at the period to which
we are now referring.” w
This state of discontent was, however, no doubt,
founded on a false conception of the consequences
which were to be derived from the advance of all kinds
of property in value. For, although it may not be
readily seen, what advantage would accrue to individ-
uals or communities, by a rise in the prices or value of
every article bought or sold, provided they all, with the
money to be paid for them, advanced in the same rela-
tive proportions 2 Now it is admitted that an exchange
of this kind for once, or for a given time, as a week, or
a month, taking place simultaneously all over the world,
would give no advantage to any man or body of men
who bought, sold or exchanged; and yet if we watch
the operations of such a change of prices, we shall see
that the continuance of this condition of things will
ultimately produce effects greatly to the advantage of
individuals, communities and countries,
!)
98 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
At first, the rise of prices would trouble and alarm
those who, for half a century or more, had been in the
habit of paying a certain price for a common article,
and which, perhaps, for that time, had not varied from
one year to another more than two or three per cent.,
and if it was high during one season, it was of course
expected to be lower during the next. The feelings of
Bishop Latimer, expressed in his sermon before the
king, as above quoted, is an example of the sensation
naturally produced by the sudden rise of the common
means of living. -
But if it is considered that the products of the farm
advanced in an equal degree, so that the same quantity
of corn would pay the rent of sixteen pounds now,
which only paid a rent of four pounds thirty years ago,
in what way does the tenant suffer by the change 2
But perhaps we cannot do better for the reader, than
to give the opinions contained in a book published in
the reign of Elizabeth, in 1581, and entitled “A Briefe
Conceipte touching the Common Weale of this Realme
of England.” This book was attributed by some to
William Shakspeare, whose name was placed in the
title page of a second edition, though there are no
grounds of belief that he was the author. It is in old
English, and much too long for our purpose, but being
a treatise on the consequences of the gold of Potosi on
the Realm of England, by a writer evidently of good
sense, the matter it contains, founded on what he saw,
is perhaps more to our present purpose than anything
P R E CI O U S M ET A L S. 99
imagination could suggest. The contents are in the
form of a dialogue between a knight, a landholder, a
husbandmen, a merchant, a hatter, and a doctor of di-
vinity. We can give only a summary, with now and
then a specimen of the style and manner of the author.
The knight says, addressing the hatter, “All of my
sorte—I meane all gentlemen—have greater cause of
complainte, now that the pryces of thinges are so risen
on all handes that you may better lyve after your de-
gree than we.”
The hatter says, “I am faine to give my journeymen
two pence in a daye more than I was wont to doe, and
yet they say they cannot sufficiently live thereon. And
I knowe for truth that the best husbande of these can
save but little at the yeare's ende.”
The farmer thinks thus: “These enclosures doe un-
doe us all, for they make us to pay dearer for our land
that we occupy, and cause that we can have no land
in a manner for our money, to put to tillage, all being
taken up for pasture.”
All the other professions named make similar com-
plaints, each touching the manner in which these high
rates affect his own affairs or business. But these are
sufficient. -
And now let us examine further into the matter, and
see what were the actual and permanent effects of the
vast increase of money, which had so elevated prices
at the time when the “Briefe Conceipte” was written.
It is clear, then, that th. advance of prices on all the
100 FI IST O R Y O F T H E
commodities that were bought and sold must have been
alike, with the exception of articles whose prices were
affected by peculiar, temporary, or local causes. Thus
the same quantity of cloth would purchase a hat, or a
gown ; the same measure of corn, except in years of
uncommon scarcity or abundance, would pay for a cow
or a sheep. The value of all commodities would bear
the same relation to each other, as if no change in the
quantity of money had existed. The only alteration
would be, on the medium by means of which the pro-
portions between the different kinds of articles were
adjusted. When any commodities were sold, the buyer
would at first complain of the quantity of money he
must pay, and that would leave a deep impression on
his mind, which would not be removed by the higher
price he could obtain for what he sold. All would wish
to buy cheap, and sell dear, such being the nature of
trading man. And the gratification of these two wishes
would finally produce the same result as is set forth in
the “Brief Conceipte.” Thus every one who produced
more than he consumed, would find, at the end of a few
years, that his wealth, estimated in money, had in-
creased beyond his expectations. And every one who
consumed more than he produced, would in a few years
find that his wealth, estimated in the same manner, had
diminished more than he anticipated. Now this condi-
tion of the two classes would, in the result, evidently in-
crease the aggregate wealth of the community. For
the producers would be encouraged to more strenuous
P. R. E. C. IO U S M ET A L S . 101
exertions to increase their estates, while the consumers
would see the necessity of adopting a greater degree
of parsimony to prevent themselves from ruin.
But a larger class than either of the above, in every
country, are both producers and consumers, and these
would find little or no change in their condition, except
so far as there happened to be an excess of price in
what they consumed over what they produced, and the
contrary. -
EFFECTs on DEBTOR AND CREDITOR. While the
quantity of money is increasing, and consequently de-
clining in value, those who owe money will gain in the
discharge of their debts, a sum equal to the difference
between the present and former value. Thus, if one
buys a house for one thousand dollars, at a credit of
ten years, and in that time the quantity of money in
the country is doubled, so that it requires two dollars
to pay for the same commodity that one would have
bought ten years before, then the house has risen in
value two-fold, and is worth two thousand dollars; but
the creditor can demand only the original price, and
thus the debtor saves, nominally, one half the purchase
money, though, in fact he pays the whole.
On the contrary, the creditor, though he receives the
whole amount of his purchase money according to
contract, yet he finds it of less value by one half than
at the time of the sale, because commodities cost
twice as much as they did at that time. *
The same principle ho;; with respect to loans, of
102 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
money on time ; for while its value is diminishing, the
rate of interest being the same, the lender gains, while
the borrower loses. Thus, when money is scarce, the
lender demands ten per cent. interest, which the bor-
rower pays; but as money increases in quantity, and
its value diminishes, it can be had for five per cent. ;
the borrower therefore loses, and the lender gains.
Thus, if I borrow one thousand dollars at six per cent.
for ten years, and, meantime, money so increases that
the current value is only three per cent, then I pay
double interest, and the lender nominally gains three
per cent. above the market value. While money is on
the decline in quantity, these principles and rates are
reversed; but there is at present no necessity of ex-
amples to illustrate a state of things in theory, which
no American now living, who has heard of California,
ever expects to see illustrated in practice.
Permanent Effects of the Increase of the Precious
Metals. We see, from the above principles, that as the
quantity of money increases, and its value diminishes,
so in proportion will probably be the strife of men for
its accumulation. Thus, if a farmer, who had been in
the habit of raising a hundred bushels of wheat, for
sale, at a dollar the bushel, finds that he can sell it this
year, and probably for years to come, at one dollar and
fifty cents the bushel, he will plough up another field,
and raise two hundred bushels for sale, instead of one
as formerly. And this he will do, though he is aware
that such is the advance on the prices of other things
PREC I o U S M ET A L S. 103
that a bushel of wheat now, at one dollar and fifty
cents, will buy no more of what he wants for his family
than a bushel at a dollar would formerly. But there
is a pride and a pleasure, which farmers as well as
others feel, in having a good round income, and which
in this way is gratified, let the outgoes be what they
may. The truth is, that people love to handle money
which they can call their own, and this passion is
too often the chief motive to industry and enterprise.
Now, during the influx of the precious metals, and
while the producer can raise or manufacture, and sell
at increasing rates, he contracts habits of industry and
economy, being constantly stimulated to renewed ex-
ertions, by the accumulations which he has from year
to year acquired ; and, as communities are composed of
individuals, and nations of communities, so this habit
of industry and acquirement becomes common or uni-
versal, and thus gives character and prosperity to the
nation. These habits being acquired, continue long
after the exciting causes which brought them into ac-
tion have ceased, and when there is no longer any
prospect of increased prices for the products of labor.
Consequently, the result is the permanent and contin-
ued prosperity of the country, as shown by the build-
ing of houses, the construction of roads, and the
development of all those instruments and signs of com-
fort and refinement which mark the civilization of
Iſla, Il.
104- H is To R Y O F T H E
C H APTE R X W II.
GOLD NOT THE CHIEF WEALTH OF A NATION.
WE learn from the above statements and explana-
tions, that gold and silver, under certain circumstances,
and when operating as a stimulus to exertion, may be
the means of national prosperity. But it must not for
a moment be understood that these ought to be, or are
the chief desire of individuals or communities which
wish well to themselves. On the contrary, the prin-
cipal wealth of a community or nation never yet con-
sisted in the quantity of gold they possessed. A nation
may be wealthy without much gold, but at the present
day cannot be so without cities, houses, railroads,
canals, bridges, steamboats, ships, colleges, churches,
manufactories, and cultivated lands. Gold, therefore,
is not wealth ; but being in universal request, and of
small bulk, is of great value to the world on account
of its convenience in carrying on the trade of one
community or country with another.
Cost of Gold. It is said by those who have studied
this subject, that the precious metals have already
cost more in their production than their value, or
uses in community, ever repaid. And if the amount
of human suffering in the earlier, and middle ages of
the world, could be reduced to a money valuation,
and to this could be added the evils of which gold
P R. E. C. I O U S M lº T A L S. 105
has been the cause, in the form of wars, fires, mur-
ders, and the derangement of conditions in Society,
there would be formed a mass of evils, which would
weigh heavily against the incentives to industry and
the wealth, comfort, and dignity of civilization, which
no doubt may be chiefly attributed to the influence of
the precious metals.
Cost of CALIFORNIAN GOLD. It may, perhaps, be
said, that the above estimate of the cost of the pre-
cious metals, is contradicted by the known facility and
little labor with which gold is procured at the present
day; and that the daily news from California proves
that the purest gold can be procured in abundance,
by the voluntary exertions of freemen, and that
neither slavery nor the lash are any longer required
for this purpose.
This, up to the present time, is, in a measure, quite
true, and in order to account for a fact so different
from what has heretofore existed in the world, it must
be remembered that we live in an age of advanced
civilization—in a new and free country; and that no
gold region, to be compared for richness and extent
with that of California, has ever before been discovered.
But the time has not yet arrived which is to develop
the consequences of this discovery on that country,
its inhabitants, or the world. Possibly the influx of
the quiet, law-loving, or perhaps Christian emigrants,
will so preponderate over the vicious, the licentious,
and the convicts, who it is said are flocking there
106 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
from all nations, that ultimately a confederated State
will be formed, which will be regulated by the en-
forcement of wholesome laws, adapted to the condi-
tion of the people. If such a state of things should
happen within half a century, which the Great Giver of
blessings grant, California will, as a mining country, be
a marvel to the whole world.
As a proof of the assertion that gold does not con-
stitute the wealth of a country, we have the example
of the region in question. This precious metal, no
doubt, exists there in unprecedented abundance ; and
yet from all accounts, nakedness, starvation, and
misery, have already commenced, and no doubt, for
years to come, will more and more abound. It is true
that there has not yet been time to erect houses, form
communities, and establish the comforts and conve-
niences of civilized life there. But so long as such an
abundance of gold exists, that any laborer can attain
a quantity sufficient, in a few weeks, to support him
in comfort or luxury the remainder of his life, there
obviously will be no cessation to the arrival of gold
from, or of fortune-seekers in California, and, there-
fore, no cultivation of the earth, or any of the quiet
arts of peace. | .*-
If accounts are true, and we have them from those
who have gathered the precious metal with their
own hands, the moral effects of the present state of
affairs in California, aside from the want of a Sab-
bath, and the ministrations of religion, are greatly to
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 107
be dreaded by those who care about such things, and
who are looking forward to the time when they hope
to see a moral and thriving agricultural population
in that country. But when it is known what effects
that region, either by its climate or its gold, has had
upon certain young men, who, to all appearance, went
there with good.characters, it will be the prayer of all
who wish well to California and its people, that the
quantity of gold may prove much less than is now ex-
pected. The truth is, that the effects are those of
gambling in other parts of the world; and although
there is no cast of the die, or turn of the card, on
which luck depends, yet the whole is, more or less, a
game of chance. One man falls upon a mass of gold,
or a rich spot, from which he gains thousands in a day
or two, and perhaps in as many days more, the one
half of this is squandered or foolishly spent, with the
expectation that the same luck will again attend him.
Another toils for weeks or months with small success,
and finally sinks into despondency, or else indulges in
the passions of hatred, envy, or malice against those
whose success is greater than his own.
Besides, the very condition of the country, which
requires a man to pay eight or ten dollars a day for his
board, and as much per week for his washing—where a
cigar costs a dollar, a common knife a guinea—a shirt a
doubloon, and all the other comforts of life in propor-
tion, is sufficient to produce habits of recklessness or
profligacy, at least with respect to the value of money,
108 h Is To R Y of T H E
which are likely to continue when gold can no longer
be obtained without toil and trouble. But enough,
perhaps top much, about California. We hope for the
best.
CHA P T E R X W III.
WHAT IS THE PROSPECT OF A GREAT AMOUNT OF GOLD FROM CALI-
- For NiA 3
ON this subject it would be hazardous to prophecy,
because there are as yet no data on which can be esti-
mated the amount of gold which that region will pro-
duce. The mines of the Ural mountains in Russia,
at first yielded but a small income, but this increased
from year to year, until they returned a yearly product
of many millions. A part of this product was ob-
tained by washing, and a part by excavations into the
mountain. The latter will probably continue profit-
able for many years after the former is exhausted.
The truth is, that no judgment can be formed
of the quantity of gold a surface mine will yield
for a series of years, from the first indications. Some
of the Mexican silver mines, after having been
wrought for a few years, or for a sufficient time to as-
certain their capabilities, are then rented for a given
sum, founded on their former products; and if we ex-
amine the statistics of many of these mines, we shall
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 109
find that for a series of years there is but little differ-
ence in their annual profits. -
But with respect to auriferous sands, no calculation
can be made for a future year, or even for a future
month, founded on their past products. Indeed, we
have seen, in a former part of this work, that of all,
the ancient mines which were chiefly alluvial, few, if
any, yielded profitable returns for any great length of
time. And of all those which were worked during the
golden mania of the middle ages, few, if any, except
those of Hungaria, continued to yield profitable re-
turns down to the period of the discovery of America.
We see, therefore, that the experience of former ages
is entirely opposed to high expectations from the long
continuance of surface mines. But as formerly stated,
the extent and the productiveness of the California
gold regions have heretofore had no parallel in the his-
tory of gold mines. Yet, in several instances, from
the great quantity of the precious metal which was
first discovered, the public expectation has not been
less than at present, though always destined, in a much
shorter period than was expected, to be sorely disap-
pointed.
There is one circumstance, with respect to the Cali-
fornian mines, which has never before occurred since
the lovers of gold inhabited the earth. Heretofore,
all mines and mining districts have been under the
control of governments or companies, and therefore, of
course, have been guarded from the admission of all
º-
10 -
1 10 Il I S T O R Y O F T H E
except their representatives or servants. On the con-
trary, the regions in question are open, not only to the
entire American confederation, but also to the free
occupation of every nation, tongue, language, and
color, of the known and unknown world. This is a
feature in the history and operation of mining, peculiar
to our age and country, and of which the annals of the
world contain no parallel example.
Now, with respect to this peculiarity, we cannot
avoid the conclusion, (considering the gold-loving na-
ture of man,) that there is a special Providence which
restrains our law-makers at Washington from all ac-
tion on this subject. They see millions of gold, to
which the nation have as good a right as to the Capi-
tol in which they sit, departing from our coasts in the
hands of strangers and foreigners, and going to en-
rich the coffers of distant nations, and for which the
rightful owners obtain not even a “vote of thanks.” But
we have not a doubt but this is the wisest course which
they could pursue, not only for California itself, but for
the nation which they represent; for with respect to
the first, there can be no hope of its becoming an effi-
cient and respectable member of our Union so long as
it is a gold mine. And in regard to our country, no
doubt will exist in the mind of any one who will look
into the history of the precious metals, or even read this
little epitome of the subject, but we shall receive at least
as much gold from that country as will be for the pros-
perity and happiness of the people of these United States.
P. R. E. C. I O US M ET A L S . 1 11
C H A P T E R XIX.
WHAT WILL BE THE EFFECT ON OUR COUNTRY OF DOUBLING ITS CIR-
CULATING coin "
SoME points in this general question have already
been answered in regard to other countries, in Chapter
XVI. We now propose to show the more permanent
and general effects which the influx of the precious
metals from the American mines produced on the
European states, and particularly on England as the
centre of business, civilization, and commerce; and
from which we may infer from analogy, if our existing
prospects are realized, what will be the results on our
own country.
We have already stated that the products of Potosí
nearly doubled in the course of, comparatively, a few
years the estimated circulating medium of the world.
But it must be remembered that the quantity of money
then in existence, would bear but a very small propor-
tion to that which the world now contains, and there-
fore that the products of California must be far beyond
what our present imagination suggests, to bear the
same relation to the present amount of coin, that those
of Potosi did to that which then existed.
But casting aside all anticipations, we will proceed
to show what results have been attributed to the cause
in question, commencing at the period specified.
1 12 H IS T' O R Y O F T H E
It has already been shown, at Chapter XVI, that at the
time when commodities are rising in price, in conse-
quence of the diminishing value of money, there is a con-
stant stimulus to the exertions of the producer, and that
there are thus induced habits of industry and economy
which are apt to continue long after the causes from
which they arose have ceased.
It is true, when the influx of money first began to
advance the prices of common articles, there was gen-
eral discontent—a specimen of which we have given
by a quotation from Bishop Latimer’s sermon. In
another sermon before his Majesty, the same dignitary
says, “Notwithstanding so much, which these rich
men have, caused such dearth, that poore men, (which
live by their labor,) cannot, with the sweat of their
face, have a living, all kinds of victuals is so deare—
pigges, geese, capons, chickens, egges, and all. These
things, with others, are so unreasonably enhansed, and
I think verily, that if it thus continue, we shall at
length be constrained to pay a pound for a pigge.”
If we look into the state of society in England half
a century after the Bishop's sermom, we shall find
that his prediction was true, and that things did thus
continue until a pig cost a pound and more. But we
cannot trace in detail the effects of the cause in
question on commerce, manufactures, and society, and
will therefore end this part of our treatise by an
extract from a British author, who has minutely exam-
ined the whole subject.
PR E C I O U S M ET A L S . | 13
Concerning the products of Potosi, he says, “The
quantity of money introduced acted upon the small
quantity previously in existence with most powerful
effect. It quadrupled this portion of money, and low-
ered its value as a commodity in the same proportion.
In other words, it raised the value of commodities at
the rate above stated. In subsequent periods, it will
be seen that the larger quantities of gold and silver that
were extracted from the mines produced much less
effect, because they acted upon larger portions which
previously had been accumulated. -
“In fact, in no period of the world was the change
in all mechanical, agricultural, and mercantile relations
and connections in any degree approaching to that
which took place between the termination of the fif-
teenth and the whole of the sixteenth century. In the
next century, though more of the precious metals was
produced, the change was less extensive ; and it was the
same in the century between 1700 and 1800, though the
mines yielded still more. The effects of this change
have been felt in every quarter of the globe, and have
had an influence on the prosperity of the whole civil-
ized race of man—not by the wealth to which the
gold and silver amounted, but by the stimulus it began
to administer to every branch of industry—by the im-
pulse it gave to physical, mechanical, legislative, judi-
cial, and even moral investigations, and by the attach-
ment it inspired to the sound principles which intro-
duced legal, civil and political freedom.”
10%
114 H E S T O R Y O F T H E
The vast quantity of the precious metals now in the
world, not only in the form of coin, but in that of do-
mestic articles, and also in the various luxuries and
ornamental uses to which those metals are now applied,
render it quite improbable that the additions of the
present age will produce effects at all to be compared
with those above described. The condition of man,
and his relations to commercial, manufacturing, and
financial affairs, are so widely different from what
they were at the period when these results were
produced, that it is nearly impossible that such
changes can again be made in these relations by any
probable amount of gold and silver to be added to the
quantity now in use.
If, however, the products of the Californian mines
should equal the expectations of the world, and should
those of Russia increase as heretofore, and the South
American mines yield their millions per year, and
should the mania on this subject pervade the world,
as was the case 800 years ago, and which is not im-
probable, we may still expect great changes with re-
gard to the value of money, and consequently in
the prices of lands and houses, and of all the commodi-
ties of trade and commerce in every part of the world.
Were prices to advance according to the rates of
which we have given examples, from those now exist-
ing the extravagance of the age, no doubt, would call
forth the indignation of many a clerical watchman.
And if the good Bishop Latimer could not, without
P. R. E. C. I O U S M E 'T A L S. 115
expressions of warning and regret in presence of the
king, foresee that a pig might advance to the price
of a pound, what would have been his language,
could he have imagined that the same animal could
ever have been sold for fifteen or twenty pounds,
which would be the case, should prices now advance as
they did in his time 2 And who, at the present day,
should prices thus increase, would not be surprised
to see the time when he would be obliged to give
twenty-five or thirty dollars a barrel for his flour,
thirty or forty dollars a week for his board, four or
five dollars a day for common labor, twenty dollars a
pair for his boots, and in these proportions for every
thing else he bought?
But what, in these times, will salaried men do,
when many of them complain that they can hardly
live on their allowances at present rates ? In view
of such a contingency, a young clergyman, who has
just preached a sermon on California, has requested in
behalf of himself and his brethren, that, when these
things happen, all who love the gospel, will be so far
guided by its precepts as to remember the poor.
C H A PTE R. X. X.
CALIFORNIA DIAMONDS.
ALTHough we have not yet heard of any specimens
of these stones in the gold regions of California, yet
116 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
from the geological character of that country, and
the known associations with which diamonds occur,
it is by no means impossible but such may be the
case. Indeed, there are many reasons, founded on
experience, with respect to the localities in which
diamonds are found, which render it probable that the
regions in question may afford this valuable gem.
There is no doubt but the diamond exists in many
places as yet unknown, since it requires much experi-
ence to distinguish it from crystals of quartz or topaz.
One, therefore, who has no experience, and no suspi-
cion that he is in a country where diamonds are to be
found, may see and even handle them, without a
thought of their value. It was in consequence of the
geological experience of Humboldt, in connection with
this subject, that the diamond regions of the Ural
mountains, in Russia, were first discovered. At his
suggestion, the gold washers were directed to search
for diamonds, before any had been found, and when no.
suspicion existed that it was a diamond-bearing region.
The consequence was, that a boy soon after found a
diamond of considerable value, and for which he was
rewarded by a premium of encouragement. From
this time the finding of diamonds became frequent,
though not very abundant in that region But these
gems being of various colors, as yellowish, brown,
greenish, bluish, and rose red, it is difficult, without an
experienced eye, to detect them from common gravel.
The finest are, however, of no color at all, and closely
PR E CI O U S M ET A L’s. --- 117
resemble the transparent crystals of quartz so common
from Lake George, but which also are found in other
places.
In Brazil, where great numbers of diamonds have
been gathered, but chiefly of very minute sizes, the
method of searching for them is to wash the sand of cer-
tain rivers, in the manner similar to that described for
gold. The diamonds, being of greater specific gravity
than the common sand, sink to the bottom of the dish,
and, with the particles of gold, are selected out by the
practiced eye of the washer.
But how shall this gem be distinguished by one who
has had no experience, and who, in a jeweller's shop,
cannot tell it from quartz or French paste 2 This diffi-
culty can only be overcome by testing such stones as
the washer for gold suspects to be diamonds. Let him
preserve all those answering to the above description,
and test them by cutting glass, or scratching crystals
or quartz with their sharp corners. When they are too
minute to be held in the fingers, this may be done by
pressing the specimen into the end of a little stick of
hard wood, and then running it along a piece of
window-glass, which, if it is a diamond, it will cut so as
to be readily broken apart by the hands. When tried
on a crystal of quartz, the diamond will leave a mark
which one crystal of that substance will not do on an-
other. But a more distinctive and certain character
of the diamond than either of the above, since both
sapphire and zircon will cut glass and scratch quartz,
118 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
is the form of the crystals, the edges of which, instead
of being straight, as in other crystalline forms, are
curved or swelled, as shown by figure 2. In small crys-
tals this peculiarity can only be observed by a magni-
fying glass; and, although they rarely present the
four curvilinear faces represented by this figure, yet,
Fig. 1. Tig. 2.


whatever the number may be, if they are curved, as
shown in the cut, it may be known that the specimen
is the gem in question. This form may be seen with a
glass in the small rough diamonds set in brass and used
by glaziers. Another form of the diamond is repre-
sented by figure 1. It is an octahedron, or eight-sided
solid, with the edges replaced by interrupted, nar-
row, convex surfaces. These interrupted, convex, or
rounded angles, as seen above, are peculiar to this gem.
The diamond breaks, or is crushed with difficulty,
and hence a test, sometimes employed, is to place the
specimen between two hard bodies, as a couple of dol-
lars, and force them together with the hands. Such
pressure will crush a particle of quartz, but will only
force the diamond, more or less, into the metal.
Diamond Regions. In India, the diamond mines ex-
tend to the distance of hundreds of miles along the
P R E C I O U S M ET A L S . & 119
coast of Bengal and Cape Comorin, the chief being in
the kingdom of Golconda. These are, however, now
mostly exhausted ; and, at the present time, Brazil
is the country which chiefly furnishes Europe with
diamonds.
Diamonds of Great Size and Value. And now, being
on this subject, perhaps some of our readers may be
curious to see a list of all the remarkable diamonds
known, with their estimated prices.
1. The India Company diamond—weight 89% carats.
It was brought from India, and its value, at the usual
rate of estimating large uncut diamonds, being four
hundred dollars the carat, is $3,185,000.
. The following figures represent the size and shape of
this gem in its original rough or uncut state. The
left is a geometrical view of its upper face; the right
figure is a perspective view, taken in the direction of
the dotted lines a, y, of the left figure. The letters
A, B, C, set against the angles, and a, b, c, against the in-
termediate sides, respectively refer to the same parts in
each. In both, D marks the flat surface.

120 H IS T O R Y O F T II E
2. That of the Rajah, of Mattan, in the Island of
Borneo, where it was found about two centuries ago.
It is shaped like an egg, with an indentation on the
upper end. Weight, 367 carats, or 2 ounces and 169
grains Troy.
For this diamond the Governor of Batavia offered the
Rajah the sum of $50,000 and two large brigs of war,
with their guns and ammunition. But this the Rajah
refused, the water in which the gem was dipped being
considered a cure for all diseases.
3. That belonging to the Queen of Portugal, weight,
11 ounces; the estimated value at $400 the carat, being
$1,120,000,000. This, if it is a diamond, is the largest
known. It is, however, said to be a white topaz.
4. The Pitt diamond, weight 136}} carats. This
was brought from India by George Pitt, and sold to
the Regent Duke of Orleans, for $500,000. It was the
same which was set in the hilt of Napoleon's sword,
and its value will be seen among the crown jewels of
France.
5. That in the sceptre of the Emperor of Russia.
This was bought by Count Orloff for Queen Catharine,
for $450,000, and an annuity of $20,000 a year during
the life of the person who sold it. This diamond is of
the size of a pigeon's egg, and once formed the eye of
an eastern idol. It is said to have been stolen by a
French grenadier, who, for this purpose, pretending to
turn heathen, became one of its priests.
6. That in possession of the Great Mogul, weight,
P R E C I O U & M ET A L S . 121
two hundred and eighty carats. This is cut and pol-
ished. Value, $3,500,000.
7. That of the King of Portugal, weight 215 carats.
Value, $184,400.
Inventory of the Crown Jewels of France, according to
the estimate of a commission of jewelers, appointed by the
National Assembly, 1791. This is not the whole, but
the diamonds only.
CARATs. Dollars.
J. Le Regent, or the Pitt diamond, . . . . . . . . . . 136 14-15 2,220,000
2. Le Sauncy, translucent, cut in facets, . . . . . . . . 33 Il-16 185,000
3. A sky-blue brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 672-16 555,000
4. Pear-shaped, peach blossom color; . tº º 24 13-16 37,000
5. The mirror of Portugal, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 2-16 46,250
6. A brilliant diamond, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 12-16 32,750
7. A diamond cut in facets, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 281-16 46,250
8. A colorless brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 14-16 32,750
9. A peach blossom brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . 142-16 5,550
10. A brownish brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138-16 6,475
11. A yellowish brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 2-16 1,850
12. A wine colored brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . 189-16 13,875
13. Fifteen brilliants, from 5 to 10 carats each, . . . . . . 154,105
14. Small diamonds, 1,631 in number, weighing . . . . . 425 14,287
15. A pale brilliant, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31 12-16 55,000
16. An epaulette, with 206 brilliants, . . . . . . . . . 8,695
Total value of diamonds among the crown jewels of France, . . . . $3,414,837
The above prices will show the great difference be-
tween a colored and a colorless diamond. Thus, num-
ber 8 is six times as valuable as number 9, because it is
colorless.
Rules for Estimating the Value of Diamonds. We
have said a few words on this subject, but perhaps not
sufficient for our readers who are going to California. ,
Diamonds are valued by the carat, which is 4 grains,
Troy. The estimate is made by squaring the number
! } -
122 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
of carats, and multiplying the result by the price of a
single carat: thus the price increases in a multiple pro-
portion to the weight.
The price of a small rough diamond, fit to polish, is
$10 the carat. One of 2 carats, therefore, is worth
2 × 2 = 4 × 10 = $40. One of 4 carats, 4 × 4 = 16 × 10=
$160. One of 20 carats, 20 × 20 =400 × 10 = $4,000.
But it will be seen by the prices in the inventory, that
the value increases according to the size of the gem,
and its color, or its water, which term refers to its
transparency. Thus a diamond of the finest water, of
20 carats, cut in brilliants, like the Mirror of Portugal,
is worth at least $2,000 the carat.
When diamonds are cut and polished, they are known
to jewelers as brilliant, rose, and table diamonds, de-
pending on the form and number of these artificial
faces. The cutting is chiefly done in Holland, on
wheels of copper or iron, with the dust or powder of in-
ferior diamonds. This is called diamond bort. They
are set without a back, and when worn as head dresses,
are placed on black velvet.
Set diamonds may be tested by placing wax on their
backs, which will destroy the brilliancy of paste imita-
tions, but will not affect the lustre of the true gem.
The above estimates of value we have stated as we
found them in various authorities, and it will be ob-
served that the only invariable part of the rule is to
square the carats, the value of each carat being in pro-
portion to the beauty and perfection of the gem.
P R E CI O U S M ET A L S . 123
CHAPTER XXI.
INCREASE of METALLIc wealTH FROM. A. D. 1600 To 1700.
HAVING described, with as much minuteness as the
plan of this work will allow, the effects of the mines of
Potosi on the prices of the commodities of Europe, we
now proceed to give a summary of the products of other
mines in South America. *
At the period now under consideration, the mines of
Potosi had greatly declined, so that from the immense
income of more than two millions a year, the amount
towards the close of the sixteenth century became only
about $500,000. But this diminution in what was at first
the most productive mine in the world, was more than
re-placed by the discovery of other Peruvian mines.
Gold Washings of Chili. On the banks of the moun-
tain streams which descend from the Cordilleras, gold
has been obtained in considerable quantities by the
usual method of washing, but we have no means of find-
ing the amount. - :
Mines of Mexico. The great increase of mineral
wealth at the period in question was derived from
Mexico. But there are many difficulties in ascertain-
ing, with any degree of precision, the amount which all
these mines produced—there having been, at many of
them, no records preserved. . - -
The only estimates, it is said, to be relied on, down to
124 . H IS T O R Y O F T H E
the time of his travels in 1803, are those of Baron
Humboldt. But to make the account now to be ex-
hibited the more intelligible to the reader, we must
bring under his view a few statements made in the
foregoing pages, partly from the estimates of Mr. Jacob.
The quantity of circulating coin in the world, at the period of the
discovery of America, is stated in Chapter X to be . . . . . . $170,000,000
That produced afterwards, deducting for loss, down to 1600, . . . . . 690,000,000
860,000,000
Applied to utensils and sent to Asia, which we deduct, . . . . . . . 210,000,000
Thus leaving in circulation, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $650,000,000
This is the conclusion of Mr. Jacob ; but we must
leave our readers to consult his reasonings and state-
ments in order to arrive at this result. Mr. Jacob thus
makes the whole stock of gold and silver coin in Europe,
at the end of 1599, or the beginning of 1600, as above
stated, $650,000,000.
The same author, in estimating the increase of the
precious metals from 1600 to 1700, remarks, that in
consideration of all the changes in the circumstances
of society, it seems fair to conclude that the proportion
of gold and silver in the seventeenth century, which
was applied to other purposes than making money, had
much increased beyond that proportion which it bore
in the 16th century, and which has been estimated in
this inquiry at one-tenth. It seems therefore probable,
that, instead of one-tenth only being diverted from its
application as coin, to that of ornaments and furniture,
an assumption may be admitted that this consumption
amounts to one-fifth.
PR E CI O U S M ET A L S. J25
N
In this view of the subject, the addition to the coined
money in circulation would have been £244,000,000.
But allowance must be made on this sum for the loss
by abrasion, at the rate formerly estimated, of one part
in three hundred and sixty, annually, which would
amount to £34,000,000; thus leaving at the end of
1699, coin in circulation, in addition to what existed
at the end of 1599, a sum, which, for clearness, may
be thus stated.
Stock of coin left at the beginning of 1600, as above stated, . . . . . $650,000,000
Loss by abrasion in a century, to the end of 1699, . . . . . . . . 215,000,000
- - 435,000,000
Produce of all the mines in the world for one hundred years, $1,687,500,000 -
Transferred to India and China, (deducted,) . . . . . . 166,250,000
1,521,250,000
A fifth converted into utensils, (deducted,) . . . . . . . 301,250,000
$1,220,000,000
Deduct from this for abrasion and loss, . . . . . . . . 170,000,000
- 1,050,000,000
Thus leaving in circulation at the beginning of 1700, . . . . . . . 1,485,000,000
It will be seen by this estimate that if the stock of
coined money in Europe, at the beginning of 1600, be
taken at 650,000,000 of dollars, the amount of the
same at the commencement of 1700, or during the
lapse of a century, would have been increased from
the mines to $1,485,000,000. This addition being
equal to $835,000,000 for the century, amounts to
nearly one hundred and twenty-five per cent., or
nearly double and a quarter the original sum of
$650,000,000. This is probably as correct a state-
ment as existing data will allow, for whoever will take
11 * p
126 H L S T O R Y O F T H E
the trouble to follow Mr. Jacob, from whom these esti-
mates are derived, cannot but observe the vast amount
of labor and research he has expended on these subjects.
Amount from the South American mines from 1700
to 1803. The following estimates are from Baron
Humboldt, who, as already stated, visited many of the
mines on which his statements are made. Of his au-
thority on this subject, Mr. McCulloch, author of the
Commercial Dictionary, has the following remark:
“He was incomparably better qualified for forming cor-
rect conclusions as to the past and present productive-
ness of the mines, than any of those who had hitherto
speculated on the subject.” f
Humboldt's estimates are made in dollars, and car-
ried out for the year, without giving the aggregate for
each period into which the time is divided. These
several divisions are necessary on account of the va-
riation of the products, which it will be seen were
constantly on the increase.
Yearly Average.
Product of the American mines from 1700 to 1750, . . . $22,500,000
Amount total for fifty years, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,125,000,000
From 1750 to 1803, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $35,300,000
Amount total for fifty-three years, . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,870,900,000
Amount for the century, . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,995,900,000
Thus, during the century ending in 1800, with an ad-
dition of three years, we have the enormous amount of
two thousand nine hundred and ninety-five millions,
nine hundred thousand dollars, as the product of the
South American mines alone. +.
P R E CI O U S M ET A L S. 127
It will be observed that this is a much larger sum
than was supposed, by the estimates given above, to
have been in circulation at the beginning of the seven-
teenth century, this being $1,485,000,000. If we add
the amount produced by the mines as above, viz.,
$2,995,900,000, we shall then have the clever sum of
$4,480,900,000. With respect to the products of the
mines, it will be observed that we have made no de-
ductions on account of abrasion, and the application
to domestic purposes; but that amount being only the
issue of the South American mines, without refer-
ence to those of the United States and Europe, it
is not estimating their resources too high, we think, if
we appropriate the sum they produced during the
century in question to supply the loss thus occasioned.
We then suppose that, at the commencement of the
nineteenth century, there was about $4,480,000,000
in circulation.
From all the investigations we have been able to
make on so difficult a subject, this appears to be not
far from the truth; though it is but fair to confess that
no two authorities which we have consulted come
within a million or two of each other in the results of
their estimates. -
From a table contained in McCulloch's Dictionary,
in which estimates are given of the products of the
American and Russian mines, we find the result to be
equal to the average of $15,730,000 per year, for the
ten years ending in 1829.
128 H 1 S T' O R Y O F '1' [I E
Since, and even before that period, many of the
Mexican mines have greatly declined in their products,
while those of Russia have increased from one year to
another with great rapidity. With respect to the
diminution of the value of the Mexican mines, per-
haps a stronger proof cannot be given than the fact
that considerable quantities of the precious metals
have been imported from Europe into that country.
Mr. Ward, the British consul to Mexico, states in
his work on that country, that in 1825, there was trans-
mitted, as a loan to the government, from the house of
Goldsmith & Co., of London, three hundred and
ninety-six ingots of gold, and four thousand two hun-
dred and sixty-three ounces of doublooms, amounting
together to $1,636,400, which was recoined and issued
by the Mexican government.
This want of money in a country so celebrated for
its metallic wealth, arose, undoubtedly, in part, from her
revolutionary troubles; but we shall have occasion to
show hereafter, that, independently of this circumstance,
there is a great decline in the productiveness of the
Mexican mines.
C H A PTE R. X. XII.
A MOUNT OF COIN IN CIRCULATION AT THE PRESENT TIME.
OF the aggregate amount of circulating coin in the
world, or even in Europe and America, at this time, it
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 129
is impossible for us to give any well authenticated es-
timate. The subject, indeed, requires more investiga-
tion, more patience, and more data than it is in our
power to command. And with all the elements which
could be obtained, it is not probable that any estimate
which it is in the power of the most patient calculator to
make, would come within millions of the truth.
We shall therefore content ourselves with recording
whatever matter of recent date, with respect to the
coinage of different countries, and the products of
mines, it is in our power to command.
Coinage of the United States. In the Report of
Mr. Patterson, Director of the U. S. Mint, rendered
to Congress, January 22d, 1849, we have the following
heading over the table showing the value of the metals
coined in each year, and the aggregate amount of the
whole. -
Coinage of the Mint of the United States in the sev-
eral years, from its establishment in 1792, and including
the coinage of the branch mints from the commencement
of their operations in 1838.”
We observe that there is a great difference in the
coinage of different years, the reason of which we
have no means of explaining. Thus, in 1820, the
value of gold coined was $1,319,030, while in 1823 it
was only $72,980. In 1847 it was $20,221,385, and
in 1848, $3,775,513, and similar differences in the
silver and copper occur.
130 H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
The amount, in value, of the gold coinage from 1792 to
- 00
1848, at all the mints, is, : $76,341,440,
That of silver, for the same time, is . . . . . . . . . . . . $73,466,514,20
That of copper, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,209,759,20
The amount of the whole is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $151,017,704,40
The number of pieces, in all, amount to . . . . . . . . . . . . .343,281,750
Another heading, marked B., in this Report, runs
thus: - -
“Statement of the annual amounts of deposits of
gold for coinage at the Mint of the United States and its
branches, from mines in the United States.”
This, to Americans, is an interesting portion of the
document. These deposits commence in 1824, and
are from the following places, with the amounts from
each. The time is from the above date to 1848, in-
clusive.
Virginia, . . . . . . . $1,003,180 || Alabama, . . . . . . . . $49,163
North Carolina, . . . . . 2,995,170 | Tennessee, . . . . . . . . 32,396
South Carolina, . . . . . . 499,094 | New Mexico, . . . . . . . 682
Georgia, . . . . . . . . 2,333,616 | Culifornia, . . . . . . . . 44,177
Besides these sums there was received from various
sources, not named, but in the United States, $34,237,
making the amount coined, of American gold at the Phil-
adelphia mint, $7,991,685. To this the several sums
coined at the branches are to be added, as follow.
At Charlotte, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,033,563
At Dahlonega, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,468,433
At New Orleans, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129,377
- Total at the branches, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $5,631,373
The total amount of gold, therefore, from the United
States mines, is as follows:
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 131
Coined at the United States' mint, . . . . . . . . . . . . . $7,991,685
Coined at the branches, • * s e º e º e º 'º e . 5,631,373
Total of American gold from 1824 to 1848, . . . . . . . . . $13,623,058
This sum, it will be observed, is included in the gen-
eral amount of $151,017,714,10 above stated. The
amount at the branches has been coined since 1838, at
which time they were established.
Prospects of the American Gold Mines. It may be
observed, from the report of the mint, that there has
been a gradual increase of the amount of gold coined
from United States sources, though the value in differ.
ent years varies greatly. Thus, in 1833 it was
$898,000, while in 1839 it was only $385,240. The
largest sum coined in any one year was, however, in
1846, being $1,139,357. In 1848, the amount was
$899,405, and of this $44,177 came from California,
and 682 from New Mexico.
It would appear, therefore, from the above com-
parisons, that our ancient gold mines are but
little more valuable than formerly; but we have no
doubt that another year will show a vast increase of our
auriferous products, even without the aid of California
or New Mexico. We venture to make this prophecy
from the known gold-loving and gregarious nature of
our species, and the analogy which exists between
the present time and the twelfth century, when the
golden mania raged as an epidemic throughout Eu-
rope, and of which we have given an account.
At the present time, every person who has occasion
to open the earth will be on the lookout for gold,
132 II IS T' O R Y O F T H E
**
and every intelligent boy, who has seen the shining
particles from California, and is told that they are
sometimes found on the banks of rivers, will search the
sand, when he goes in swimming, to find the like.
Yesterday we had a call from a clever farmer, who
had come with specimens found in the earth last
summer, but who never once thought of their con-
taining gold until lately. We told him that for this
time he must be disappointed, since the yellow shining
particles were nothing more than mica or isinglass. It
was, however, agreed, that his neighbors and himself,
who expected to make excavations in the earth as soon
as the frost is out, should have an eye to this mat-
ter, for no one can tell where the gold lies until it is .
found.
We may expect, therefore, that not only new aurif.
erous places will be found, but that those now known
will receive renewed attention, under the stimulus of
present circumstances; and no doubt the result will
be a great increase of the golden products of our
country. -
Color of Auriferous Sands. We have already stated
that the color and appearance of the sands in which
surface gold is found, are similar all over the world.
These colors vary from yellowish brown to dark
brown, passing into nearly black, and in respect to
composition, they generally contain more or less oxide
of iron.
Such regions, (called by the Spaniards placers, from
P R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 133
the Latin, placere, to please, because gold is pleasant
to the eye,) are most frequently found in the vi-
cinity of hills or mountains; but that is not always the
case, since some localities, where much gold has been
found, are at great distances from any high lands. In
Brazil the gold occurs chiefly on the banks of rivers;
but in Africa the auriferous sands are at great dis-
tances from either hills or running streams. From
these circumstances it will be seen that geological po-
sitions are no certain indications of the presence or
absence of alluvial gold.
Coinage of Great Britain. A new system of coin-
age was adopted in England in 1816. Before that
time, the counterfeiting of current money, especially
of silver coins, had become so common, in consequence
of the worn and defaced appearance of the pieces, as
to give much trouble to the government. This money
often could not be distinguished from pieces of silver
which never had been under the die. Since that time
it is said that forgeries of this sort have become com-
paratively rare.
- At that time, a pound weight of silver bullion,
which had previously been coined into sixty-two shil-
lings, was made into sixty-six shillings, the four shil-
lings being retained by the government as a seignorage,
or tax on the coinage. The shilling passed at the
same value as before, the real difference passing from
the hands of the people into the treasury of the nation.
At the issue of the new coinage, it was enacted that
12 -
| 3 || H IS TO R Y O F T H E
gold only should be a legal tender in all payments over
forty shillings, instead of gold or silver which was for-
merly a tender.
Since the issue of the new coin, at the beginning of
1817, down to 1831, the aggregate amount of gold and
silver coined at the British mint was £47,000,000, or
$235,000,000. Of this, much the largest amount was
of gold, and this has been the case for a great number
of years. Thus, from 1790 to 1831, the value of the
gold coined was nearly $70,000,000, while the value of
the silver was less than £10,000,000. --
From 1831 to 1837 we have no authentic means of
ascertaining the amount of English coinage. But
from the last period, the items are contained in Hunt’s
Magazine for January, 1849. They are as follows:
Coimage of the British mint for the ten years from
1837 to 1847 :
Gold, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . f.34,878,666
Silver, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3,329,707
Copper, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68,103
Jºë8,276,476, or $191,382,380.
The greatest amount of gold coined under the new
system was in 1821, being £9,520,756, equal to
$47,603,780. The largest sum of gold coined in any
one year in the mints of the United States was in
1847, being $20,221,385. The amount of British coin
issued under the new system, from 1816 to 1847, omit-
ting the six years from 1831 to 1837, appears to be as
follows:
PR E CIO U S M ET A L’s. 135
From 1816 to 1831, . . . . . . . . . . . . f*T,000,000=$235,000,000
From 1837 to 1847 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .638,276,476=$191,382,380
£85,276,476=$426,382,380
For the six years omitted by estimate, . . . . . . .C19,137,743= $95,688,715
36.104,414,219–$522,071,095
Russian Mines. In 1829 Baron Humboldt, with
two associates, M. Rose, and the celebrated microsco-
pian philosopher, Ehrenberg, at the command of the
emperor of Russia, made a mineralogical tour to the
Ural and Altai mountains. In this journey, they not
only discovered new localities of gold and silver, but
from the geological features of the country, suggested
that at certain localities diamonds would also be found,
which accordingly happened.
It was before known that gold and silver were con-
tained in certain places in the vicinity of these moun-
tains, since they had both been obtained in small quan-
tities—the former by washing, and the latter by exca-
vations. *
The Russian government, receiving encouragement
from the accounts of these philosophers, caused the
proper steps to be taken according to their directions,
and the result has been that these mountains, especially
the Ural, have become one of the most prolific gold
regions in the world.
The increase of these sources of gold in extent and
amount, has been such, that from the value of about
$10,000 in 1836, they amounted in 1843 to $18,547,200,
since which their products have annually increased.
In the last fifteen years the supply of gold from Russia,
136 HIs To R Y o F THE
and chiefly from these mountains, has amounted to
$65,000,000. In the month of June, 1843, it is stated
that $10,000,000 in Russia gold was received in Lon-
don, and went to swell the deposits in the Bank of
England, which are now $82,000,000.
The above we give on the authority of the Demo-
cratic Review.
The same writer makes the following other state-
ments. The Mexican silver mines being restored to
their former productiveness, will yield, at least,
$25,000,000 per annum. The annual supply of gold
in the United States being $1,000,000, and that of
Russia increasing at the rate supposed, these two re-
sources, with that from Mexico, will not produce less,
during the next fifteen years, than $575,000,000 of gold.
This, we understand, does not include the silver from
the Mexican mines. .- f
The same writer states, that in the Bank of France,
and the Bank of England, there are at this moment
$60,000,000 of silver, and $67,000,000 of gold coin,
making one hundred per cent. of amount greater than
ever before known.
Again, “In Mexico, before the war of independence,
there were three thousand mines, producing $21.000,000
in silver, and $2,000,000 in gold, annually. This has
now dwindled down to $11,000,000 of both metals,
notwithstanding the resources are as great as ever.”
The latter clause, concerning the resources, was
probably written without consulting the history of the
P. R. E. C. ſ. O U S M ET A L S , 137
Mexican mining companies of London, or Ward's
Mexico, either of which will convince the reader that
many of the mines in that country, owing to their
being filled with water, or earth, can never, at least at
the present price of silver, be again wrought, except
with great loss to the undertakers.
C H A P T E R XXIII.
coin IN ExistENCE IN 1816, witH THAT SINCE COINED IN ENGLAND,
UNITED STATES, FRANCE, RUSSIA, AND SOUTH AMERICA.
THIS is mere hypothesis, and is put down here as
nothing more. But having spent much time and labor
on this subject, we have at command some items,
which, being put together, will serve to show the enor-
mous guantity of gold and silver, which we know have
been in existence during the above period. We begin
with 1816, because that was the time of the new sys-
tem of coinage at the British mint.
Mr. Jacob, after great labor, has come to the con-
clusion that the whole stock of coin in existence, at
the commencement of 1810, was £360,000,000. Now,
if we deduct the loss by abrasion, which, during six
years, would be not far from £6,000,000, we shall have,
in 1816, the amount of £354,000,000 sterling, as the
stock in the world when the British coinage com-
menced. This is equal to $1,770,000,000. The amount
12*
138 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
of coinage at the United States mint and its branches
from 1793, as already shown, is $151,000,000, and we
cannot be materially wrong, if we estimate it, since
1816, at $100,000,000.
In Ure's Dictionary, the estimated products of all the
South American mines, including the period in ques-
tion, was $47,000,000 per year, down to 1830. But
from that time they yielded only about half their previ-
OuS almOunt. If, therefore, we take this sum for the first
twenty years from 1816, and one half of it for the next
sixteen years, bringing the time down to 1847, and then
estimating that one half this amount was coined at all
the mints in South America, we shall come as near
the truth as our data will permit. This would give
$940,000,000 for the twenty years, and $470,000,000
for the ten years, making the whole $1,410,000,000.
The half of this being coined, would give the amount of
coin during the thirty years, equal to $705,000,000,
for all South America.
With respect to Russia, we have only estimates for
fifteen years before the present time, which, being
$65,000,000, we shall put double that sum as undoubt-
edly within the truth, being less than a quarter of that of
England. We have for Russia,therefore,8130,000,000.
The amount coined in France, since 1816, we have no
means of knowing ; but from certain comparisons on
other financial points with respect to England, we shall
estimate the amount equal to one half that of England,
being, therefore, $261,032,870. Having thus obtained
P. R. E. C 1 O U S M ET A L S . 139
all the elements within our command on so difficult a
subject, we will bring them together. The whole time
for which this calculation is made, is from 1816 to 1847,
being for a period of thirty-one years. During this
period, the business of all civilized countries, and the
commercial transactions of the world, have been con-
stantly and rapidly increasing. The introduction of
steamboats, as ocean vessels, has had the effect, when
compared with former ages, to bring all the nations of
the earth in proximity to each other, or to form the
whole world into a single nation; while the con-
struction of railroads is not less important as the
means by which the commodities, in different parts of
this universal nation, are exchanged with each other.
These vast improvements have been made in the world
during the period in question, and man being a trading
animal, we may well suppose that great quantities of
elementary means would be required.
Amount of coin in existence in 1816, . . . . . . . . . $1,750,000,000
Amount coined by the British Mint, from 1816 to 1847, . . . . . . 522,071,145
Amount coined by the United States, from 1816 to 1847, . . . . . . 100,000,000
Amount coined at all the Mints in South America, from 1816 to 1847, .. 705,000,000
Amount coined in Russia, during the same period, . . . . . . . . 132,000,000
Amount coined in France, estimated at half that of England, . . . . 261,035,572
Estimated amount in existence, coined by the above States, since 1816, $3,470,106,717.
**.
**
In this it will be observed that we do not profess to
give the entire circulation in existence, but have only
thrown together such items as we could conveniently
lay our hands on, with respect to the kingdoms named.
Did we suppose that it was near the amount of the en-
140 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
f
tire circulation, we might calculate the loss by abrasion
and consumption, for domestic purposes, for the thirty-
one years, and thus estimate the amount of the stock
now on hand. But when it is considered that no part
of this amount has reference to the money of Denmark,
Holland, Italy, Austria, Germany or Sweden, which has
been coined since 1816, it will be perceived that the
above sum total, although enormous, is very far from
being the whole. With respect to Russia, her mineral
resources have increased tenfold since the beginning
of the above period.
CHAPTER XXIV.
CONSUMPTION AND USE OF THE PRECIOUS METALS IN THE UNITED
STATES FOR OTHER PURPOSES THAN COIN.”
HAVING thus thrown together such information as
we possess with respect to the coin of different coun-
tries, we will now proceed to show what disposition has
been made of the precious metals in the United States
which have not been coined, and of coined money
which has passed out of circulation.
With respect to the purposes for which these metals
were used in periods of the remotest antiquity, the
* In this estimate we do not include manufactured articles for sale, but only such as
are in use.
PR E CI O U S M ET A L S. 141
/
Scriptures inform us that they were converted into
personal ornaments, and were employed in exchanges
of property, as they are, and ever have been, to this
day.
During the time when the Romans were the most
luxurious and extravagant people of which history gives
any account, it does not appear that it was customary
to convert the precious metals into utensils of domestic
ornament or convenience. This has been stated while
treating of that period, and proved by the absence of
such utensils at Pompeii. On searching the history
of the English, who, from the middle ages down to the
present time, have ever considered themselves forward
of the rest of mankind in every desirable thing, it
does not appear that these metals had come into com-
mon use as domestic utensils, even among the nobility,
until near the time of Queen Anne's reign, about the
beginning of the eighteenth century. As luxuries of
this kind depend much on the wealth and refinement
of the people, their introduction into families for other
uses than personal ornament was at first very limited,
being confined chiefly to the officers of the government,
and the nobility and gentry.
PLATE. It is said that the rich service of plate pre-
sented to the heroic Duke of Marlborough, stimulated
the wealthy mobility at that period to acts of extrava-
gance, in order to imitate the style and appearance of
his table. At that time the products of the American
mines had already thrown large quantities of silver into
142 H IS T O R Y O F T II J3
Europe, so that it was in the power of the rich to in-
dulge themselves in any luxuries of this sort which the
fashion of the day required. And it appears from ac-
counts still preserved at Goldsmiths' Hall in London,
that at about this period there was a sudden increase of
orders for services of plate from various parts of the
kingdom.
SILVER TEA-Spoons. The introduction of tea, and
the almost universal love with which it has been re-
ceived among civilized nations, has been the means of
consuming large quantities of silver in the form of
small spoons. These were rare in England before the
time of Anne, during whose reign they became not only
fashionable among the aristocracy, but were soon in-
troduced into the middle classes, and finally into every
family who could afford the luxury of tea. At the
present day, in our country, at least in all the northern
States, few families are too poor to possess a set of
tea-spoons, and in general no female is considered in a
proper condition for the married state without the pos-
session of this article of housekeeping. -
If the number of inhabitants in the United States be
stated at 20,000,000, which is rather below the esti-
mated number for 1849, and the number of families at
4,000,000, thus allowing five persons for each family,
we may thus suppose that 3,000,000 of families are in
possession of silver tea-spoons. The cost of these, for
each set of half a dozen, is from six to ten dollars. One
third of these families probably have three sets, or two
PR E CI O U S M ET A L S. 143
dozen, at the cost of thirty dollars, while the other two
thirds may have a single set, each at the cost of six dol-
lars. But we will suppose the average to be at the cost
of twelve dollars for each of the three millions of fami-
lies, thus making the amount for tea-spoons $36,000,000
in the United States. It is believed that no one, who
knows the habits and ability of the people in this coun-
try, would think this estimate too high.
SILVER TABLE-Spoons. About 1760, it is said that
silver table-spoons began to supersede those of wood,
horn, and pewter, in England. This improvement, or
what was then considered an unwarrantable luxury,
was at first confined to the higher classes. These
spoons, however, were not only very slight and thin,
but of a size little larger than the dessert spoons of the
present day, their weight being no greater than that of
our heavier tea-spoons.
In the first settlement of this country, a few such
spoons were brought over by the more wealthy and re-
spectable emigrants, some of which are kept as relics
of antiquity at the present day. But the common peo-
ple, for a century or more, after the settlement of the
country, used spoons of pewter or wood. The latter
were made by the Indians, and continued more or less
in use, even after the Revolution. -
At the present time, silver table-spoons, though fewer
in number, are nearly as common as tea-spoons. Their
cost is from two to three dollars each ; and while some
families possess only three, others have three dozen,
144 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
f
and perhaps a few have none at all, still using pewter,
iron, or German silver.
We may therefore, perhaps, estimate the number
of families possessing silver table-spoons at two millions,
each having from three to twelve. But there are fewer
families having twelve than three. - If, therefore, of the
above number, we estimate that 1,500,000 families have
each three spoons, at two dollars a spoon, the amount
is $9,000,000, and the other 500,000 twelve each, at
thirty-six dollars, then we have $18,000,000. Thus
making the amount, for silver table-spoons in the United
States, the sum of $27,000,000. It is true, that this
estimate is hypothetical; but, having consulted several
persons of discretion in such things, we see no reason
for changing the items in the above calculation.
SILVER FORKs. Silver table-forks are articles of
comparatively recent introduction. At the commence-
ment of the reign of George III, about 1760, we find
that steel and iron forks were still used by the nobility
of England, and it was not until the middle, and towards
the close of his reign, that this, then esteemed an article
of luxury, was common at the tables of the higher
classes. But this fashion spread with great rapidity.
In this country, silver forks were seen only at the
tables of the fashionable and the wealthy in cities, until
within about twenty or twenty-five years. At the
present day they are not common, even in country
villages; and the old-fashioned merchants and farmers,
who indulge in good horses and carriages, continue the
PRECI ous M ET A L's. 145
use of steel forks—esteeming silver, for this purpose, as
unwarrantable extravagance. In ancient families we
often see great silver tankards, silver goblets, spoons,
ladles and fruit knives; but why these marks of aris. .
tocracy should so suddenly drop down to steel forks, it
is difficult to determine, and why forks have not an
equal claim with spoons, to be made of silver, we know
not. But the quantity of silver employed for this pur-
pose is not at the present time near so large as that used
for either of the above named purposes.
If we take, then, one family in four of the two
millions which use silver table-spoons, making the same
number which we have estimated to possess one dozen
each, then we should have the number of five hundred
thousand families, which, by analogy, might be supposed
to possess silver forks. But since it is known that
many families, which, it might be inferred, from other
expensive articles in their houses, would use the article
in question, do not do so, it will, perhaps, be nearer the
truth, if we estimate such families at two hundred thou-
sand. This would make the number of families that use
silver forks equal to three-fifths of those which have one
dozen of table-spoons. The value of silver forks is
from two to three and a half dollars each ; the average
being two dollars and fifty cents. The number in each
family may be from half a dozen to two or three dozens.
Perhaps the nearest average, for our purpose, will be
nine forks to a family. Thus, for silver table-forks in
the United States, we have the sum of $4,500,000.
13
146 His To R Y of T H E
In this estimate, it will be observed that we have
made no allowance for hotels and steamboats, where
this article, especially in large city establishments, and
in boats of the first class, is in general use. These two
sources are also the means of consuming large quan-
tities of silver in the form of spoons, and for which we
have made no allowance. We think, therefore, that no
one, on reviewing our estimates of the three articles in
question, would consider the amounts at all exaggerated.
The total amount follows.
Silver Tea-Spoons, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $36,000,000
Silver Table-Spoons, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27,000,000
Silver Table-Forks, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,050,000
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stº,050,000
OTHER DOMESTIC ARTICLEs of SILVER. The quan-
tity of silver in this country in the forms of tankards,
tea-urns, goblets, waiters, coffee-pots, tureens and
ladles, it is difficult to estimate the value of with any
degree of certainty. Besides, there are tumblers, cups,
and many small articles of silver, which go to increase
the difficulty. Many of these articles are confined to
the families of the more wealthy, and most of them to
the inhabitants of cities. There is a large number of
ancient tankards, sugar-bowls and creamers, and per-
haps tea-pots and goblets, belonging to families which
were once the magnates of the country, and which ar-
ticles have been, and are still kept as indices of the
social position of the original owners. But few of these,
however, can be traced to the possession of the early
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 147
emigrants, whose chief ornaments and wealth, it is well
known, were honesty and intrepidity. Many of these
articles were brought by families from abroad, and per-
haps others were manufactured in this country before
the Revolution.
Some of these utensils, such as tankards or pitchers,
are worth forty or fifty dollars a piece, and others eight
or ten. Perhaps there are fifty thousand families in
the country who possess to the amount of forty dollars
each of this sort of plate. We shall therefore estimate
the amount at $2,000,000. With respect to the other
articles above enumerated, many of them are of ancient,
but more of recent manufacture. Some of these, such
as cups or tumblers, are in most families of fashion in
all our large cities. Half a dozen cups or tumblers are
in a large number of families, while a smaller number
have two or four of the former, and two or three dozen
of the latter. -
There are, then, probably, fifty thousand families in
the country which have half a dozen cups or tumblers.
The tumblers probably cost four dollars each, but we
will estimate the whole for each family at $20, making
$1,000,000.
The waiters, coffee-pots, tureens and ladles, are in
possession of comparatively few families; but being
expensive articles, their aggregate cost is considerable.
Some families have one or two of these, but not the
whole ; and therefore, if the number of families be
reckoned at fifty thousand, each having an amount of
148 HIs To R Y O F THE
$20, in one or more of these articles, perhaps the esti-
mate will come within the truth. This sum, then, will
be $1,000,000. The aggregate amount of these is 7–
Tankards, Pitchers and Tea Pots, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,000,000
Sugar Bowls, Cups and Tumblers, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000,000
Waiters, Coffee Pots and Ladles, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000,000
4,000,000
Spoons and Forks, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67,050,000
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $71,050,000
•4
DINING SERVICEs of PLATE. The cost of a dining
service of course depends on the number of pieces and
their sizes, together with the weight and the amount
of labor bestowed on the chasing or engraving. We
know of a cotton manufacturer who is said to have
ten thousand dollars’ worth of manufactured silver in
his house. But such instances are very rare in this
country. There are many families, however, which
possess from one to three thousand dollars in this kind
of furniture. But the latter are chiefly confined to our
large cities; and as only a few occasions occur where
the proprietors of such establishments make a full dis-
play of their domestic resources, it is difficult to esti-
mate with any certainty their number, or the amount
they have of this kind of personal wealth. Besides, it .
may be that many a table service, which passes for solid
silver, is merely plated copper, pewter, or iron. And
now, since galvanized goods have come into fashion,
many can sport such diming services who would be-
come bankrupts were they compelled to purchase the
PR E CI O U S M ET A L S. 149
same weight of goods at Goldsmiths' Hall. But of such
the present estimate has nothing to do, the subjects of
plating and electro-silvering being reserved for another
chapter.
We have many instances in all our large cities,
where individuals have accumulated vast wealth, and
in not a few instances it may with propriety be said of
them as of those of Tyre, “her merchants are princes.”
Now, the estimate in question does not, of course,
include any of the articles already named, though many
of them, as tureens, goblets, and waiters, may be used
with, and perhaps might be considered as forming a
part of, the dining service. But there are many who
have these articles who do not claim to have a dining .
service of plate, and it is of the latter only which we
are now considering. But perhaps these explanations
are sufficient; and now for the estimate, which we are
as fully aware as the reader can be, is little better than
mere hypothesis.
Suppose, them, of the twenty millions of people in our
country, forming four millions of families, that weima-
gine one thousand such families each to possess a
dining service of silver plate, worth, on the average,
$2,500; and two thousand to have an inferior service
of the same, worth $1,500; then we have, for the first
class, $2,500,000; and, for the second class, $3,000,000;
making a total of $5,500,000. This being added to the
total already stated—$71,050,000—makes $76,550,000
WATCHES. In this country, it is believed that the
13%
150 H IS To R Y 0 F THE
number of watches worn at the present day is greater
than in any other, with the same number of inhabitants.
Reasons have been given above for believing that of
the four millions of families in our country, at least
three millions are in the use of silver tea-spoons. We
have also stated that, at least in the northern states, no
female is considered in a fit condition to be married,
until she has at least six such spoons. Perhaps there
is more pride than reason exhibited by a female who
spends her earnings in silver spoons, rather than in the
more necessary articles of housekeeping. But there is
many a young woman, who, having earned what she
has, claims the right of spending it as she pleases; and
every American knows, that nothing so lightens the
burdens of housekeeping, or so meliorates the lonely
condition of country life, as now and then a little party
at tea, whether at home or at one of the neighbors. And,
as tea cannot be served without spoons, we think that
there is as much reason as pride in this silver prepara-
tion for sylvan life.
With respect to the bearing of this on the number of
watches worn by the opposite sex, we have to observe
that there exists a sort of equilibrium between the two,
the young lady seldom marrying without her spoons, or
the young gentleman without his watch.
In every city, as well as in the country, most gentle-
men wear a watch, and there is a great number of this
class who have no families. But of the three millions
of families which we have calculated use silver spoons,
P. R. E. CI O U S M ET A L S. 15]
there is at least one person in each who has this con-
venience. Besides these, there are many men, young -
or old, belonging to the million of families, which we
have not estimated in the silver spoon class, who still
wear watches. In the four millions of families, of five
persons each, into which we have divided our twenty
millions of inhabitants, we may thereforé consider that
there are three millions of watches. In many houses
there are four, five, or six watches, and in others none.
We therefore have made the average as above stated;
thus making the number of watches three millions.
But in addition to these, there are thousands of young
men who live at boarding-houses, and serve as clerks,
or in other capacities, who have each a lever or lepine.
These we shall not add to the three millions already
estimated. They go to swell the value, but not the
number. -
Estimated Value. There is scarcely an article bearing
the same name which differs so much in value as that
in question; for, while the lad who can raise six dollars
can have a watch that will tick, and a chain that will
show, the gentleman, who can afford it, and sometimes
he who cannot, does not buy his jeweled golden lever
for less than one or two hundred dollars. But it is the
gold and silver, the consumption of which we are esti-
mating, and not the jewels, or the time-keeping part of
this luxury. -- -
When watches were first used, being them made only
at Nuremberg, in about 1500, they were so unwieldly
152 H Is To R Y 0 F T H E
in size and awkward in shape, that no rustic at the
present day would receive such a present, except for
the silver it contained. Since that time, this article,
now so indispensable, both at sea and at home, has
been constantly improving in every respect; but more
especially in the time-keeping part, which has become
so perfect that longitude, at the present day, is every-
where calculated by the chronometer. But while the
labor and the gems which decorate these instruments
have of late years greatly increased their value as a
whole, the precious metals, forming their shields or
cases, have much diminished. -
The number of watch cases of gold, made at London
and Birmingham, and which amount to many thou-
sands annually, have an average weight of two ounces.
This is known from the stamp duty, which the manu-
facturer pays the government. These are what are
called single cased watches—double ones being, at
present, of comparatively rare manufacture.
It is stated that a large portion of the wheel-work
of these watches is made at Geneva, and brought to
England to be cased, so that the duty paid to the gov-
ernment is merely on the cases. With respect to the
weight of silver watch cases, Mr. Jacob states that the
duty paid to the government is on an average of two
and a quarter ounces, troy, per watch.
Many of these watches are worn by our inhabitants,
and therefore these require no further calculation with
respect to the weight of their cases. But we have
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 153
many French and American cases, not weighing, prob-
ably, more than 14 ounces, and therefore we shall place
the average of silver watches at two ounces. -
The next question is, what are the proportions be-
tween the gold and silver watches worn in these United
States ?—having already shown, we hope, as near as the
case will admit, that the whole number is three millions.
At the present day, it is well known that what are
called gentlemen's watches are almost exclusively of
gold. In our cities, gold watches are much worn by
merchants’ clerks, and other young gentlemen, without
reference to ability. Ladies’ watches, which are now
almost as numerous as ladies themselves, and which
we have not before mentioned, are generally, as they
should be, of the more precious metal.
Conclusion. Our estimate, therefore, with respect
to numbers, is, that of the watches of the three millions
who wear this convenient luxury, one million are of
gold and two millions of silver.
Now, the weight of each gold case being two ounces,
and the gold 16 carats fine, the price is sixteen dollars
the ounce, this being the cost of the English article.
But perhaps one half the gold watches worn are of
French, American, or Swiss manufacture; and many
of those made in Birmingham and London are sold
without being inspected, in order to avoid the duty;
and these not being sold by weight, are made as light
as appearances will admit. Of the One million, then,
one half being of two ounces weight, at sixteen dollars
154 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
the ounce, the sum is $16,000,000. . The other half
being of equally fine gold, but weighing only one ounce
each, gives the sum of eight millions—making, for gold
watches, $24,000,000. The silver watches, two millions
in number, with cases each weighing two ounces, may
be estimated at one dollar the ounce, and therefore the
total, for this division of our subject, is $4,000,000. The
amount total, therefore, is— .
Gold Watches, 500,000 of two ounces, at $16 per ounce, . . . . . $16,000,000
Gold Watches, 500,000 of one ounce, at $16 “ “. . . . . . . . 8,000,000
Silver Watches, 2,000,000 of two ounces, at $2 “ “. . . . . . . 4,000,000
Total for Watches, . . . . . . . . . . . . . & . $28,000,000
For Spoons, Forks, Plate, &c. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76,550,000
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $104,550,000
GoLD RINGs, GoLD CHAINS, AND Bosom PINs. With-
out being minute observers of fashion, or without being
a constant frequenter of circles in which its changes
are most observable, it is still impossible not to remark
how great, though gradual, has been the increased in-
troduction of gold ornaments in the decorations of fe-
males. Nor is it the fairest portion of creation only,
whose taste for personal ornament goes to swell the
amount of the trinkets above named. z
Within a few years, we are told by those who manu-
facture and sell the rings, chains and pins in question,
that the demand for them has greatly increased, and
not only in respect to numbers, but in the expense of
their materials also. *
A dealer of long experience in these and kindred ar-
P It lº C I O U S \l E 'I' A L S . 155
ticles, such as are found in extensive jewelers' shops,
has been so kind as to assist the author in forming esti-
mates, with respect to the three articles at the head of
this section, and also in regard to many other articles
in the line of his business.
GoLD FINGER-RINGs. The value of a plain gold
ring, it is well known, depends on the weight and fine-
ness of the material; and when it contains a gem, on
the price of this, independently of the setting. The ob-
ject of the present inquiry being merely to estimate the
intrinsic or golden value of the article named, it is not
necessary here to inquire the prices of the stones with
which they are ornamented.
The number of gold rings to be seem on the fingers
of that class of young ladies who at the present day
attend female seminaries of the first class, is, on the
average, from three to six. In many families, therefore,
there are from twelve to eighteen gold rings. -
With respect to their equivalent value, those of the
cheapest kind cost seventy-five cents each, or four rings
for three dollars. Of the four millions of families, it is
probable that one million have four such rings, at the
cost of seventy-five cents for each family, the cost of
the whole being $750,000. This being the million to
which we have awarded no silver spoons, they have,
no doubt, a proper claim to this small consideration.
Besides, if the fingers of this class be noticed, it will be
seen that, on certain occasions, no one is without this
ornament—many having two. The next class, con-
I 56 H Is To R Y 0 F T H E
sisting of two millions of families, residing in town and
country, and in a condition to indulge in considerable
exhibitions of fashion, may be supposed to possess an
average of four gold rings to a family. A large por-
tion of them are worn by young ladies at school. The
average of four to the family, at the cost of three dol-
lars for the four, is therefore equal to $6,000,000.
The remaining one million comprises the more fash-
ionable classes, and in this we must include the males,
who indulge in this mark of aristocracy, and do not
sport the ornament in question for less than an average
of ten dollars for each individual—making the sum, for
this class, $10,000,000. We have, them, for this orna-
ment, the following items:
First named, 1,000,000, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $750,000
Second named, 2,000,000, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000,000
Third named, 1,000,060, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10,000,000
Total for Gold Finger-Rings, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16,750,000
GoLD Bosom PINs. Like rings, bosom pins are very
common articles. But unlike that luxury of finery, your
bosom pin has a real value aside from the gold it con-
tains. Its very name, suggesting the part where it is
worn, and the important service it performs there, indi-
cates its absolute necessity, in addition to the high con-
sideration it has obtained as a conspicuous ornament.
The finger-ring is an ornament of neither mechanical,
physical, mor, with the exception of the wedding ring,
of spiritual use ; but is often highly inconvenient to the
wearer. On the contrary, the bosom pin performs an
P. R. E. C I O U S M ET A L S. 157
important mechanical part, since it serves to hold in
place the dress of both sexes.
The cost of this useful ornament is from one to
eighteen or twenty dollars; and, although a few indi-
viduals possess several, only a single one is exhibited at
a time. Although an article of domestic importance,
there are many who do not exhibit gold pins, and hence,
in view of our present object, must be left out of the
estimate. -
We may therefore fix the number of families which
exhibit bosom pins at three millions. Of these, it is
probable that one million have each two pins, at five
dollars each, making $10,000,000. While the other
two millions have two pins each, at the value of one
dollar—making, for this class, $4,000,000. Total value,
for bosom pins, $14,000,000. tº 4
GoLD CHAINs. The use of this ornament claims a
very high antiquity, since Moses informs us that Pha-
raoh put a gold chain about the neck of Joseph, when
he made him ruler over his household. It was at that
day not only an ornament, but probably a badge of au-
thority also. From that remote period to the present
time, gold chains have been worn either as ornaments,
or as a convenience in attaching to the person some
valuable article, as a watch or an eye-glass.
In our own times chains of this sort are worn by
many who claim no higher places in society than their
neighbors, and yet there is something in a long, heavy
golden chain, which betokens a considerable degree
14
158 H IS T O R. Y O F 'I' H E
of self-complacency on the part of the wearer. This
arises, in part, no doubt, from the fact that these
ornaments are generally of 16 or 18 carat gold, being
seldom made of gilded brass or tinsel. Gold neck-
chains, therefore, let them be seen where they may,
must be considered as having a value equal to their
weight of standard gold, besides the cost of making,
which is sometimes equal to that of the precious metal
itself. With respect to the cost of this article, they can
be bought for from six to twenty-five dollars each; and
our experienced informant, who knows the object of this
estimate, believes that there is one million of families
which possess, each, twelve dollars’ worth of such
chains; while another million, which do not wear
chains, have at least four dollars' worth, each, of the old
fashioned gold beads. The latter, at the present day,
are seldom or never seen among our city dames; but
the amount of this article sold shows that great num-
bers in the country, who have a few dollars to expend
in ornaments, choose to possess that which, from their
childhood, they have looked upon as a mark of dis-
tinction in their mothers and grandmothers.
We have, therefore, one million of Gold Chains, at $12, . . . . . $12,000,000
One million strings of Gold Beads, at $4, . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000,000
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $16,000,000
In these, as well as in all other articles of manufac.
tured gold, the intrinsic value only, and not the work, is
estimated.
PR E CI O U S M ET A L S . 159
GoLD THIMBLEs. At the present time, thimbles for
the finger, (for there are several articles of this name,)
are of universal use among civilized nations. They are
used by both sexes, although chiefly by females. At
what period of the world this article was invented is
not known, for it is by no means certain that the fine
needle-work of the ancients was done by such thimbles
as we use at the present day. But whatever might
have been the form and composition of ancient thim-
bles, no one, in our times, pretends to do nice work
without one of gold or silver.
On the delicate finger the gold thimble is highly or
namental, though no one professes to wear it merely on
that account. Be this as it may, every female, who is
old enough to make use of a needle, is provided with
this necessary implement, made of one of the precious
metals. From the best statistics we can obtain on this
subject, we believe that there are at least five hundred
thousand persons in our country who possess, each,
a gold thimble, worth, by weight, $2,50. This gives
the amount, for this article, of $1,250,000.
The more humble, and therefore the more useful class,
so far as industry is concerned, have thimbles of silver,
which are designed, not for ornament, but for actual ser-
vice. In the four millions of families, besides the five
hundred thousand already estimated above, there is at
least one silver thimble in each family, the weight-value
of which is ten cents. This, therefore, gives the total
value of this article in the United States at $400,000.
160 • H IS To R Y O F T H E
Thus making, for Thimbles of gold, . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,250,000
Thimbles of silver, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400,000
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $1,650,000
Value of Silver Plate used in the Churches of the
United States, chiefly in the form of Communion Ser-
vices. This being a subject of interest, we have
taken every means in our power, within a limited time,
to ascertain as nearly as possible the average value of
silver used for the purpose in question, in the churches
of each denomination contained in the following list.
For the number of churches, we have depended
chiefly on the authority of the Family Christian Al-
manac of 1849, published by the American Tract
Society. In several instances, however, clergymen of
the denominations, concerning which inquiry was
made, gave a different and generally an increased
number from that in the Almanac. In this publi-
cation no mention is made of the Universalists what-
ever, but we have supplied this omission from good
authority.
In no instance, where it was in our power to do so,
have we failed to consult clergymen personally with
respect to the average value of plate in all their
churches. In most cases, the reverend gentlemen re-
quired time and consideration before they were willing
to give even a suggestive reply to so difficult a question.
But in all instances, being pleased with a subject so en-
tirely new, at least in relation to our country, there was
shown a disposition to give the matter so much atten-
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. º 161
tion as to arrive as near the truth as possible; and the
following estimates are made in conformity to these
suggestions. s - s
The question of the proportion of churches situated
in cities and in the country, was one of the first made
in relation to the general estimate. For it is well
known that, of all public buildings, the wealth and pride
of cities are first displayed in the magnitude, decoration
and furniture of their churches. In this respect the
Catholic churches have the advantage of all the other
denominations, a large proportion of their religious edi-
fices being in cities or populous villages. Next to the
Catholic churches, those of the Unitarians and Univer-
salists are most frequently situated in populous places.
Opposite to these, in this respect, are the Baptists and
Methodists. Although they have many churches in
cities and towns, the great majority of their places of
worship are spread throughout the southern and western
states, occupying more than any, or perhaps all the
other denominations, the agricultural portions of the
Union. Between these are the Episcopalians, Congre-
gationalists, and Presbyterians, each having churches,
in average proportions, in cities, villages, and in the
country. The churches of these denominations are
not, like those of the Catholics, chiefly confined to large
towns; nor do they occupy, in so great a proportion as
the Methodists and Baptists, the agricultural regions of
our country. Of the three denominations in question,
it is thought that the Episcopalians embrace a larger
1.4%
162 H L S T O R Y O F T H E
comparative proportion of churches in cities than the
Presbyterians or Congregationalists. .*
There are several denominations mentioned in the
catalogue to which we have referred, clergymen or
members of which we have had no opportunity of con-
Sulting; these, however, being generally small societies,
will not materially vary the result, since their church
furniture will be apportioned by the analogy they ap-
pear to bear to other denominations in respect to the
present question. Af
As already suggested, it will be found in the following
estimates that the cost of church furniture bears a
direct proportion to the number of congregations sit-
uated in and about cities and villages, and those in
agricultural districts. It is the moneyed wealth or per-
sonal property, therefore, in part, and in part, also, the
number of members in a congregation, by which, in
most of the denominations, the value of the sacramental
utensils is graduated. This principle, or practice, ap-
pears to hold in the case of all the Christian denomi-
nations of our country, except the Catholics, whose
church decorations and furniture have, under equal
circumstances, ever been the richest in christendom.
We give the following list in the same succession as
that contained in the Christian Almanac.
It will be observed, also, in the estimates, that the
number of pieces differ in the different denominations.
Thus, in the Episcopal, Catholic and Methodist Epis-
copal churches, the sacred elements are served by the
P R E U I O U S M ET A L's. 163
hand of the minister, at the chancel or altar; while in
the Presbyterian, Congregational, Baptist and other
churches, which do not assume the Episcopal form, the
elements are served by deacons to the members in their
usual places. Hence, in the first division, there are
only required, especially in small churches, a single
tankard, one chalice or cup, one plate, and a baptismal
bowl. Larger congregations are provided with two
tankards and two chalices. In the second division, the
furniture, where the church is large, consists of two or
four tankards, four or six plates, eight or twelve cups,
and a baptismal bowl.
In churches of long standing, and especially in
cities, the sacramental table is often furnished with
highly finished solid silver vessels and plates, the cost
of which amounts to a considerable sum. These are
frequently the presents of members, whose names and
good deeds only are known to the present generation,
and whose piety and virtues are yet to remain an ex-
ample to members of the same, and perhaps many
other churches.
In new congregations, on the contrary, and espe-
cially those formed in thinly inhabited districts of
country, the table is furnished in proportion to the
ability of the members. Britannia, plated, or, perhaps,
more recently, galvanized ware, composes the sacred
furniture. - -
It is, of course, those congregations only which are
furnished with plate, that come within this estimate,
164 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
and here, it must not be concealed, there is considerable
difficulty; but we have made such an average, with the
assistance above stated, as it is believed will come
within the truth. wº
It is obvious that the price of the several pieces,
will depend on their sizes and weight, and on this
point, as well as on the different capacities in most
common use, we have consulted those whose busi-
mess has long required a knowledge of the subject."
In the different denominations it will be seen that
there is a great disproportion between the churches
which are furnished with silver and those which are
not. Thus, in the Catholic communion, it appears
that no place of worship is without its plate, while in
the Methodist and Baptist denominations it is sup-
posed there is only one church in fifty which is thus
provided.
In the same denominations, the value of the fur-
niture in question, though of the same material, is
quite various, in consequence of the difference in the
number and weight of the pieces. Thus the value,
in many of the city churches, may be four, five, or
eight hundred dollars, and we hear of some, (not
Catholic,) that are said to have a thousand dollars
worth of silver plate. On the contrary, their less
wealthy, or perhaps more humble brethren, in the same
neighborhood, may be contented in the possession of
this kind of furniture to the amount of one or
two hundred dollars; while those in the country.
P R E CI O U S M ET A LS 165
may think themselves equally well served when their
places of worship contain only forty or fifty dollars
worth of precious metal.
Under these circumstances, the several denomina-
tions might be divided into classes, depending on their
ecclesiastical wealth ; but aside from the invidiousness
of such a distinction, it would be useless in attaining
our object, which is simply to ascertain the metallic
wealth in our churches. In view of the above facts,
therefore, we shall make such an average for each de-
nomination as appears to be nearest the truth. Hav-
ing made these explanations, we now proceed to exhibit
the result of our labors in the following tabular
form. - . . -
As it would be inconvenient to give the names and
prices of the several pieces in the table, it is sufficient
to state that silver is worth one hundred and sixteen
cents the ounce ; but it is here estimated at only one
dollar the ounce, so that the sums in dollars will
indicate the ounces in weight. Thus a tankard worth
twenty-five dollars is supposed to weigh twenty-five
ounces, and a cup of five ounces is worth five dollars.
We have already explained with respect to the num-
ber of pieces required by different denominations.
The value of tankards is from twenty-five to fifty
dollars. Of chalices or cups, from five to ten dollars.
Plates from five to ten dollars. Bowls from twelve to
twenty dollars.
166 H IS TO R Y O F. T H E
TABLE.
Denominations. #2, # # # ; ;
Episcopal Methodists, 6,000 | | | 120 $63 $7,560
Baptists, . . . . . . . . . . 11,000 || 3 || 220 | 135 | 29,700
Presbyterian O. and N. S. 4,000 | # 500 178 89,000
Other Presbyterians, . . 1,500 | # | 187| 178 33,286
Congregationalists, . . . 1,800 | # 225 | 178 40,050
Dutch and German Ref'd, 537 || | | 67 || 178 11,926
Protestant Episcopal, . . 1,200 | # |400| 160 64,000
Lutheran, . . . . . . . . . 1,400 | #| 175 || 178 31,150
Unitarians, . . . . . . . 244 || | | 122 || 172 20,984
Universalists, . . . . . . 800 ºr | 16 || 110 1,760
300 | 1,500 450,000
- 300 | 1,000 300,000
Roman Catholics, . . . . 1300 all 300 30ſ) 90,000
400 150 60,000
$1,229,416
This estimate for the Catholic denomination, which
we have from good authority, includes not only
churches, but chapels, colleges, convents, schools, and
“all other ecclesiastical institutions where the holy sac-
rifice of the mass is offered up every week, and almost
daily in the majority of the places.” It is proper to
state, also, that in this estimate the prices are what it
is believed the articles cost, without reference to their
value by weight, which, as already observed, has been
the estimate with respect to all the other denomina-
tions. From the above amount, therefore, at least one
third is to be subtracted in order to place the estimates
of the Catholic church on the same ground as the
P. R. E. CI O U S M ET A L S .
167
others. This deduction being made, it appears that
the value of silver used for sacred purposes in the
Catholic churches is nearly twice as great as the
aggregate value of that used by all the other de-
nominations.
Perhaps it will be proper to state the number, kind,
and value of the articles supposed to be used by
each denomination in the communion service, in order
to show why the relative amounts differ. It has
already been stated why some churches require a dif-
ferent number of pieces from others.
METHODIsTs.
1 tankard,
1 cup,
1 plate, .
1 bowl, .
sº
i
---
EPISCOPALIANs.
2 tankards,
2 chalices, .
1 plate,
l bowl, .
BAPTISTs. -
- 2 tankards,
4,cups, .
2 plates,
1 bowl, .
PREs BYTERIANs.
2 tankards,
8 cups, .
4 plates,
I bowl, .
LUTHERAN.
2 tankards,
8 cups, .
4 plates,
1 bowl, .
DUTCH REForMED.
2 tankards,
8 cups, .
4 plates,
I bowl,
UNITARIANs.
2 tankards,
4 cups, .
2 plates,
l bowl,
CoNGREGATIONALISTs.
2 tankards,
8 cups, .
4 plates,
1 bowl, .
$70
64
32
I2
$178
168 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
UNIVERSALISTs.
I tankard, . . . . . . $50
2 plates, . . . . . . . 16
4 cups, . . . . . . . 32
1 bowl, . . . . . . . . 12 sº
$110
GoLD AND SILVER PENCILs. “The ever-pointed
pencil,” as the article now under consideration was
originally called, if not the most important, was cer-
tainly one of the most convenient inventions of the age.
Those made of silver, if we are correctly informed,
came into use about 1820, and were at first advertised
and bought, not only as a convenience, but as a curi-
Osity. For who, having never seen any pencil but
the common wooden one, which requires the knife ev-
ery few minutes, could conceive how one could be
made, which never lost its point The wiser ones
were incredulous on this point, and could not believe
the truth, until they saw and tried the article. All
who saw, were satisfied with its utility, but its price,
being four or five dollars, prevented its coming into
general use for many years. When it was sold for
two dollars, it was considered a cheap convenience,
and almost every merchant and his clerks had one.
Afterwards, when the price fell to a dollar, and so to fifty
cents, those whose dignity eschewed so cheap an ar-
ticle, began to have their pencils made of gold. The
old pencils were sold for the crucible, and being
much heavier than those of the present day, brought
about one dollar each. *
PR E C I O U S M ET A L S. 169
But however costly the pencil may be, it becomes
a pencil only, when it is furnished with its lead.
This, therefore, is the important portion of every
pencil, and for the One now in question, required, as
well as the handle, a new invention. The two, how-
ever, must have been simultaneous, as being parts of
each other. -
The lead itself comes from the principal plumbago
mine in the world, which is at Borrowdale, Cumber-
land, England. It is situated in a hill or mountain,
and instead of being worked constantly, like other
mines, is opened only once a year, when a sufficient
quantity is obtained to supply the world for the year
to come, when it is again closed with strong doors,
bars, and locks, until the next annual supply is re-
quired. -
From the time of Queen Elizabeth, it is said that
all the fine pencils in the world have been made of the
black lead of this mine. The little needle-like pieces
in question, on which the “ever-pointedness” depends,
are made by being passed through apertures of dif.
ferent sizes. -
Although a recent invention, its cheapness at the
present time has made it in almost universal demand;
so that of the four millions of families in the country,
of five persons each, there are many which possess
four or five, and we may therefore assign one to each
family, making four millions. -
The cost of this article is chiefly in its manufac.
5
170 H IS TO R Y O F THE
zº
ture, the intrinsic value of those now sold being only
from twenty to twenty-five cents. But as there are
many old ones still in use, worth sixty or seventy
cents, we place the average value at thirty cents.
Thus making the total, for silver pencils, $1,200,000.
GoLD PENCILs. Gold pencil-cases were probably
first made for those who, having used the article in the
form of silver, and seeing this in plebeian hands, required
an instrument, if no better, yet less common and more
costly. At first, gold pencils were sold for ten, fifteen,
or twenty-five dollars, or more, when containing a gem
on the top. Jewelers, indeed, will furnish this article
at almost any ..price demanded. At present, how-
ever, the medium price is from five to ten dollars.
As in the case of silver pencils, the cost chiefly de-
pends on the labor of making, the average weight
of the gold being no more than about two dollars.
Within a few years the demand for gold pencils has
greatly increased, so that, among many people of stand-
ing and fashion, silver ones are no longer seen. Those,
therefore, who depend upon preserving their caste in
society. by an equilibrium of externals, can hardly
do so at the present day without the show of a gold
pencil.
Among the individuals of our four millions of fami-
lies, perhaps there are not fewer than one million who
possess gold pencils. A dealer in this article informs
us that the average value of those now sold is two dol-
lars. We have, then,
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. *. 171
Gold Pencils, value . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $2,000,000
Silver “ “ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,200,000
Total, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,200,000
GoLD BRACELETs. This ornament, now seen on the
wrists of many of our ladies, has been alternately in
and out of fashion, from that period of the world when
Isaac sent wedding presents to Rebecca. But those
now in fashion are, perhaps, only a modification of the
badge of the ancient and honorable Order of the Gar-
ter; which order, it is well known, Originated in an
accident, which occasioned King Edward III to ex-
claim to the fair Countess of Salisbury, “Evil to him
who evil thinks.” - r
Now, a badge of honor may be transferred from one
extremity to another, without at all vitiating the claims
of the wearer to the dignity it was originally intended
to confer; and, although the one in question has had
its ups and downs, according to the fashion of the times,
we cannot avoid giving the fair ones of our day the
credit of bringing it up, and placing it where, we think,
it properly belongs. Be this as it may, if any portion
of our race must wear-ornaments—and history tells us
of no time when they did not—then we cannot but ap-
prove of the bracelet, or wristlet, of the present day, as
being both appropriate, delicate, and comely; and if
we must have fashions—and when did we not 2–then
who will complain, (except of the expense,) that one so
convenient, in its cycle of twenty or thirty years, has
reached us just at the time when, if our expectations
.*
172 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
are realized, every one who desires to wear this golden
bauble will be satisfied ? When this time arrives, no
one will feign occasion to raise her sinister organ in so-
ciety, for all wrists will be decorated, until that period
when, by non user, our aristocracy shall again consign
this fugitive decoration to the jewelers' crucible.
The price of bracelets, each, is from five to twenty
dollars, and many possess two, not a pair, since they are
generally unlike. The medium intrinsic value of gold,
in this ornament, is three dollars; and being, at this
moment, a general favorite among those who know best
how to appreciate personal decorations, there cannot
probably be less than one million, or one quarter of the
families in the United States, which possess one each.
Amount, for bracelets, $3,000,000.
SPECTACLEs. It is hardly necessary to say that
“this is an optical instrument, consisting of two lenses
set in a frame, for assisting imperfect vision.” This
instrument appears to have been invented during the
13th century, and at the present day has become a
necessary article for the aged, and a convenience to the
short-sightedness of many of our youth.
What an important invention to our fathers and
mothers, who, in the decline of life, often find that their
chief comfort of existence depends on the reading of
some good, or entertaining book, and who instantly
become blind without their spectacles. How Me-
thusaleh and . Noah could have been made comfort-
able, during centuries of old age, without the use of
P R E U 1 ous M ET ALs. 173
this instrument, it is hard for us, at the present day,
to conceive. -
On the contrary, our young myopics, who will rarely
be troubled with long-sightedness, even in old age, find
their concave lenses, though not absolutely necessary,
still a great convenience ; since, without them, they
are liable to meet their friends without being aware
they have done so. To this class the invention is
as important as it is to know, or not to know, an old
and intimate acquaintance, which, therefore, most
often depends, on the presence, or absence, of their
artificial vision. - -
SILVER Spectacles. Our ancestors, in moderate
condition, were satisfied with steel, iron, or brass frames
to their spectacles, provided they could see well through
the glasses. But, like all the cheap and simple customs
of former times, these frames gave way to those of
silver, as being not only more cleanly but more re-
spectable and becoming to the dignity of age. And thus,
even before the Revolution, not only the patricians,
but people of the middle classes began to use silver spec-
tacles. 2 * *
This being an article, not only of convenience, but
of necessity to the aged, which form a portion of nearly
every family, it will not be unreasonable to allow one
pair of spectacles to one half of the four millions of
families. But in half a million the frames may still be
of steel or brass, and in half a million, of gold. We will,
therefore, suppose that one million of families have each
- 15* -
174 H IS T O R Y O F 'll H E
a silver frame, worth, by weight, seventy-five cents—
making, for silver spectacles, $750,000.
GoLD SPECTACLEs. We have seen, in nearly all our
estimates, that articles of small weight, which were for-
merly made of silver, have been gradually replaced by
those of gold. Among these are the frames of spec-
tacles; and if the expectations of thousands with respect
to the mines of California are realized, silver will soon
become, as in the days of Solomon, “nothing accounted
of.” Gold spectacle frames are of recent date. These
were at first of heavy, and often of clumsy workman-
ship, and being commonly made to order, they cost
twenty or thirty dollars. They were sometimes made
so heavy as to require a little cushion where they rested
on the nasal bridge. Most of these patterns, it is be-
lieved, have, before this time, been consigned to the
melting pot.
At present the making of the goldframes in question
is a separate business, and they are now more elegant in
appearance, more comfortable, because less heavy, and
less costly, by at least one half, than formerly. The
price of this article, as now constructed, is from six to
twelve dollars, and the average weight of gold in each
is four dollars—the additional cost being for the manu-
facture. Seven-eighths of these are said to be of Amer-
ican workmanship. " .
Gold spectacles are now. quite common. We esti-
mate, therefore, the number who have adopted this
ornamental necessity at five hundred thousand indi-
P R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 175
viduals, among the twenty millions of our citizens.
The sum total is, therefore, for gold spectacles, at four
dollars, $2,000,000. - * .
Gold LockBTs. This article has been long in use,
and is often of considerable intrinsic value, though
more frequently its worth is not on account of the gold,
but the relic it contains. For this reason lockets are
seldom disposed of in consequence of the changes of
fashion, but are kept in families as sacred memorials.
Perhaps there are five hundred thousand families, or
individuals, which possess lockets worth each two dol-
lars, their cost being from three to fifteen dollars.
Value of lockets, at two dollars, $1,000,000.
GoLD PENs. This article, we believe, is of American
invention, and when first offered for sale, it was called .
the “ diamond pointed pen;” but it is well known to
jewelers and others, that diamonds could never be sol-
dered, or otherwise fixed to the tip of a pen.
The tip, on which the value of the gold pen chiefly
depends, is, according to the authority of Sir W. T.’
Brande, the metal called rhodium, which, by the process
of refining crude platinum, is obtained in small quan-
tities. Rhodium, for the purpose in question, is prob-
ably alloyed with steel. The former is the hardest of
metals. It is insoluble in any acid but aqua regia, and
is said to combine with steel in all proportions. The
two grains forming the tip are fastened on with gold
solder. * -
The gold pen, without the handle, which is generally
I76 H IS To R Y 0 F 'I' H E
of silver, containing a pencil, is of small intrinsic value;
and, having already estimated the value of the silver
pencil cases, the pen itself is all that now remains to
be taken into account in this instrument.
For authors, secretaries, and others, who desire to
write a uniform hand, the value of this pen is hardly to
be estimated. The time expended in mending and
making quill pens, and of fixing, sharpening, and throw-
ing away steel ones, is thus saved, and in a short time
will be a full compensation for the cost of a gold pen,
which, at present, is about $1,50. Of this, five-sixths is
paid to the manufacturer, including the tips, which, we
are told, cost about eighty dollars the ounce ; but what
number of grains, fit for use, this weight contains, is
unknown.
The intrinsic value of a gold pem is twenty-five
cents, and if we estimate one million in use, the amount
will be $250,000. - f
GoLD WATCH Keys AND SEALs. Formerly these
two articles were in very common use, but at present
the latter is comparatively but little worn, nor does
every gold watch now have its gold key. The cost of
these two articles is from two to five dollars each,
while their average value may be stated at $1,00
each. Perhaps there are one hundred thousand persons
who possess gold keys worth one dollar each ; and half
this number, viz., fifty thousand, who have seals of the
same value, making for watch keys and seals, $150,000.
GoLD LEAF AND GoLD ForL. It has been the object,
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 177
in the estimates heretofore made, to show the value of
the articles, if in market, at the usual prices of un-
wrought gold and silver. But gold leaf, though large
quantities are in use, has in this state no market value,
its consumption for common purposes being, in most
cases, an entire loss. It is said that certain persons in
London live by purchasing and burning old picture-
frames for the gold they contain; but in this country,
except when the gilding is on silver, forming the staple
for military ornaments, we have heard of no attempts
to regain leaf gold after it had been employed for the
usual purposes.
Estimated value of Gold Leaf and Gold Foil annually manufactured in the United
States. i - - - -

Places. No. of factories. Value of leaf. Value of ſoil.
Boston, . . . . . . . . . . 7 $48,000 $30,000
Hartford, . . . . . . . . . I 10,000 25,000
New York, . . . . . . . . 15 to 18 || 150,000 50,000
Philadelphia, . . . . . . . . 8 to 10 | 150,000 50,000
Baltimore, . . . . . . . . . 1 15,000 15,000
St. Louis, . . . . . . . . . 1 7,000 2,000
Pittsburgh, . . . . . . . . . 1 10,000 3,000
Cincinnati, . . . . . . . . . 1 7,000 2,000
Buffalo, . . . . . . . . . . 1 7,000 3,000
36 to 41 |$404,000 |$180,000
In the present instance, therefore, we have obtained
from a manufacturer of this article, who possesses much
intelligence and a large acquaintance with the business
generally, an estimate of the annual production of gold
leaf, in all the places where it is made throughout the
178 H IS T O R Y - O F 'T II E
country. The foregoing table contains the number of
establishments in each city, and the estimated value
of leaf produced. All these establishments not only
manufacture leaf, but gold foil also—the latter being
used exclusively by dentists for filling teeth, and per-
haps for some other purposes in their business. The gold
leaf is worth about twenty-three dollars the ounce—
the foil twenty-seven. -
PLATING AND GALVANIZING witH SILVER. It has
already been stated that the gold employed in gilding
has no market value, being an entire loss. The same
is true with the silver used in plating and galvanizing;
for although the metal may, in a proportion, be again
obtained, by an expert refiner, yet the result seldom or
never compensates the cost. Even when dollars are
counterfeited by plating, the expense of obtaining the
silver exceeds its value. Assayists and refiners, there-
fore, consider old plated goods as entirely worthless; for
any other purpose than that for which they were origin-
ally designed. The same is true of the silver thrown on
the base metals by the electro-type process; it can
never be reclaimed without loss.
The consumption of silver by these two processes,
and especially by the galvanic method, is at the present
time very considerable, amounting perhaps to many
hundred thousand dollars annually. But as there is a
large number of these establishments, great and small,
in the country, we have at present no data on which
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S , 179
\
an estimate of the amount of silver thus consumed
and lost could be made.
Estimated annownt of the consumption and use of the Precious JMetals in the United
States for other purposes than coin.
Silver Tea-Spoons, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36,000,000
Silver Table Spoons, * * * * * * * * e º . 27,000,000
Silver Table Forks, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,500,000
Plate, Dining Services, . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5,500,000
Gold Watches at $16, tº 8 & © & e º 'º - e. 16,000,000
Gold Watches at $8, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,000,000
Silver Watches, at $2, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000,000
Communion Silver, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,229,416
Gold Pencils, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,000,000
Silver Pencils, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . - 1,200,000
Silver Spectacles, . . . . . . 750,000
Gold Spectacles, . . . . . . 2,000,000
Gold Watch Keys and Seals, . 150,000
Silver Pitchers and Tea-Pots, 2,000,000
Silver Sugar Bowls and Tumblers, . 1,000,000
Waiters' Coffee Pots, .
Gold Finger Rings,
Gold Bosom Pins, .
Gold Chains, .
Gold Beads,
Gold Thimbles,
Silver Thimbles,
Gold Bracelets,
Gold Lockets,
Gold Pens, .
Gold Leaf, .
Gold Foil,
Grand total,
. . . . . . . . . . . . . ],000,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . 16,750,000
. . . . . . . . . . . 14,000,000
- . . . . . . 12,000,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,250,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 400,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . . , 3,000,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,000,000
. . . . . . . . . . . . 250,000
404,000
180,000
§ * º e g & º * g g º - wº e º •
$165,563,416
CHAPTE R XX W.
OF BAN KS AND BANKING.
It is well known that a history of banks and banking
systems would require a volume, and yet in a book on
180 H IS T O R. Y O F T H E
the precious metals, something on so important a sub-
ject may, perhaps, be acceptable. -
Of the origin and history of banking systems we have
no room to speak, and therefore shall proceed at once
to show the policy, convenience, and economy of these
institutions—having, for this purpose, consulted the
most approved authorities.
- A bank is an establishment for the custody and issue
of money, whether of metal or of paper. They are of
various kinds; some being confined entirely to the
keeping and passing out of the money deposited by
their customers, while others issue notes or paper
money of their own. -
Utility of Banks. Although the precious metals are,
in many respects, well fitted to serve as a medium of
exchange, yet, for this purpose, they are attended with
several inconveniences. It has been calculated that
if the currency of Great Britain consisted only of gold,
it would amount to sixty millions of sovereigns, which,
at a pound sterling each, would make a total sum of
nearly $300,000,000. The expense attending the care
and transportation of such a sum, allowing one-fourth
per cent for abrasion and loss of coins, is estimated at
$16,250,000 every year.
In the United States, the bank circulation is upwards
of one hundred and twenty-five millions of dollars,
and reckoning this sum in silver dollars, weighing an
ounce each, we should have an amount of nearly
eight millions of pounds; and which, without fur-
*
P. R. E. C J O U S M ET A L S , 181
ther estimates, it will be seen, would require a vast
sum annually, to pay for transportation from place
to place, as the trade of the country might demand.
Besides this, the loss, by abrasion, on one hundred and
twenty-five millions of pieces, if estimated at one per
cent. per annum, would reach the annual sum of
S$1,250,000. - -
It is on these accounts that most commercial and
civilized nations have devised various expedients to
fabricate a portion of their money of less costly and
heavy materials than gold and silver, and thus to save
the loss consequent on transportation and abrasion; and
of all the substitutes for coin hitherto suggested, that
of paper is the most eligible.
In commercial transactions, individuals, instead of
discharging their debts by the payment of the precious
metals, pay them by signing a bill or draft for the sum,
payable in coin at sight, or on a fixed day, by a certain
name or house, designated. The solvency of the
drawer being understood, this bill, or draft, passes from
hand to hand as so much cash, thus serving all the
functions of coin, and, at the same time, saving the ex-
pense, as well as the risk of loss, by transportation. Such
drafts, called bills of exchange, were invented before
banks, and their convenience led to these institutions.
By a bank of this description, or a bank of circula-
tion, in our country, is meant an establishment founded
by one or more individuals, believed to be possessed of
sufficient property for such an undertaking, for the
16
182 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
accommodation of the public with loans. Such a bank,
being applied to for a loan of money, does not make
the advance in gold or silver, but gives promissory
notes, signed by the officers of the institution, by which
its faith is pledged to pay on demand, in coin, if required.
The notes of a bank, in good credit, are deemed by
the public to be equivalent to an equal amount of coin,
and being freely accepted in payment of debts of all
sorts, and easily carried, or even conveyed by post, are
much more useful to all parties than so much gold or
silver. A borrower, therefore, does not scruple to pay
the same interest for a bank note of one hundred dol-
lars, or a thousand dollars, that he would for the same
amount of coin, for it serves his purpose equally well
in paying his debts, or in making deposits in other
banks. And if his payment is due at a distance, it per-
haps saves him the expense of sending a special mes-
senger with the specie.
Banks, therefore, deal in credit, or obligations to pay,
which are mere representatives, or substitutes for coin,
but which, in themselves, are of no intrinsic value.
Their profits consist in the excess of interest derived
from the notes which are issued, over and above the
amount of stock, or cash, which their vaults contain ;
and also in the use of deposits, for which they pay no
interest, and on the amount of which they issue bills, as
though this formed a part of their capital stock. The
coin, therefore, in this aspect of the system, is entirely
useless, being in itself unproductive, but must be kept
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . 183
on hand, and in readiness, to be exchanged for paper
whenever called for, - - -
In this country, the public take care to be informed,
from year to year, of the amount of coin which each
bank has in its vaults; for, although no one in the com-
munity may expect to employ any thing but paper
money in his business, yet he insists on knowing to a
certainty that the bills he may hold will be canceled
according to promise, if he presents them. And if it
ever so happens that this is not done at a moment’s
warning, the credit of the institution from that time is
ruined, unless it is understood that there exists a good
reason for temporary suspension. Although the bills
of a bank are considered as true and sure representa-
tives of the amount of coin for which they are indi-
vidually given, yet it is well understood that, if all the
issues should be presented for payment at the same
time, they could not be redeemed; for, as above stated,
the profits of all institutions of this sort consist in the
excess of their circulation over and above their solid
capital. They must, therefore, have a greater amount
in circulation than specie in their vaults. Suppose a
bank has one hundred thousand dollars of capital, all
paid in, and locked up in its coffers, in the form of
bullion or coin, and that it issues notes to the same
amount, then it is obvious that nothing is gained by
way of interest, even if every note should go into cir-
culation, since the income thus gained would no more
than pay for the loss sustained by the unproductiveness
184 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
of the solid capital. The loss, therefore, would be just
equal to the expenses of the bank. g’
It being understood, then, that all banks are sustained
by the excess of their circulation over the amount of
their coined money, an important question arises with
respect to the proportions between the two; for, in the
history of these institutions, it has not unfrequently hap-
pened that large sums have been issued, which were sus-
tained by only small means of payment, and this to the
loss or ruin of many individuals who happened to pos-
sess their bills.
On this subject, the reader may inform himself of the
practice or custom of the present time, by consulting the
table which follows, showing the amount of circula-
tion, capital, and specie, in all the banks of the United
States.
Besides banks of currency, as above described, there
are also banks of deposit, for keeping the money of in-
dividuals. A merchant, or other person, using a bank
of this sort, makes all his considerable payments by
drafts upon his banker, and sends all bills due to him,
to be presented and duly noted, if not paid. By this
means he saves the trouble and expense of keeping a
quantity of unemployed capital at home—of receiving
coins or notes that are not genuine, and of making
mistakes with respect to bills due, or payable. Banks
of deposit derive their profits either from their paying
no interest on the sums deposited in their hands, as is
the case of most of the London banks, or from their
P R E C I O U S M ET A L S. 185
paying a less rate of interest on deposits than that for
which they lend money to the public.—McCulloch's
Dictionary of Commerce, and Brande's Encyclopedia,
Articles on Banking. - e
The following table comprises a list of the banks, the
amount of their capital, circulation and specie in the
United States :
‘States. ;: Capital. Circulation. Specie.
New York, country, 144 19,356,000 19,270,000 2,533,000.
New York city, 25 24,003,000 6,967,000 6,574,000
Pennsylvania county, . 34 7,866,000 6,400,000 2,000,000
Philadelphia, l4 9,222,000 4,500,000 4,200,000
Ohio, 48 5,706,000 8,321,000 2,604,000
Virginia, . . 36 10,502,000 9,308,000 | 2,990,000
Tennessee, . 20 8,056,000 3,000,000 1,206,000
Kentucky, •] 6 7,018,000 5,483,000 2,920,000. .
North Carolina, . 18 3,225,000 3,070,000 1,290,000
Massachusetts, country, . . 83 13,240,000 10,998,000 658,000
Boston city, 26 18,863,000 7,308,000 || 3,286,000
Georgia, . . . . . . 20 5,109,000 3,200,000 | 1,448,000
Indiana, e 13 2,082,000 3,900,000 1,084,000
South Carolina, 14 11,431,000 2,442,000 681,000
Alabama, Mobile, . I 1,500,000 2,311,000 | 1,097,000
Maine, . . . . . . 33 2,959,000 || 2,536,000 260,000
Maryland, country, . 12 1,887,000 1,510,000 600,000
Baltimore, . 11 6,973,000 2,104,000 1,832,000
Missouri, . 6 1,201,000 2,404,000 || 2,314,000
New Jersey, . . 25 3,750,000 2,700,000 636,000
Louisiana, . 6 17,663,000 3,514,000 || 7,252,000
Connecticut, 33 8,705,000 4,437,000 462,000
Vermont, . 32 2,959,000 2,536,000 260,000
New Hampshire, . 20 1,800,000 1,512,000 I44,000
Michigan, . 3 7,660,000 600,000 200,000
Rhode Island, . 62 11,023,000 2,842,000 325,000
Delaware, . • s 8 1,390,000 500,000 150,000
District of Columbia, 4 1,328,000 509,000 150,000
Wisconsin, . . I 225,000 180,000 I20,000
Total, 728 |$209,331,000 $125,233,000 $49,270,000
16*
186 H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
CHAPT ER. X. X W I.
TABLE
Exhibiting an estimate of the population and property, real and personal, of each State
and Territory of the United States in 1847.
States and Territories. P ºpulatººse and *i. Total agº; in each
Maine, . . . . . . . . 600,000 || $400 240,000,000
New Hampshire, . 300,000 ( & 120,000,000
Massachusetts, . . . . 850,000 & C 340,000,000
Rhode Island, 130,000 £ 6 52,000,000
Connecticut, . . . . . . 330,000 ( & 132,000,000
Vermont, . . . . . . . 302,000 & C 120,800,000
New York, . . . . . . 2,780,000 ( & 1,112,000,000
New Jersey, 416,000 £4 166,400,000
Pennsylvania, . 2,125,000 ( & 850,000,000
Delaware, . . . . . . . 80,000 & C 32,000,000
Maryland, . . . . . . 495,000 ( & 198,000,000
Virginia, . . . . . . . 1,270,000 C & 508,000,000
North Carolina, . . . 765,000 C & 306,000,000
South Carolina, . . . . 605,000 C & 242,000,000
Georgia, . . . . . . . 800,000 C & 320,000,000
Alabama, . . . . . . . 690,000 & C 276,000,000
Mississippi, . . . . . 640,000 ( & 256,000,000
Louisiana, . . . . . . . 470,000 & C 188,000,000
Tennessee, . . . . . . 950,000 C & 380,000,000
Kentucky, . . . . . . 855,000 ( & 342,000,000
Ohio, . . . . . . . . . 1,850,000 {{ 740,000,000
Indiana, . . . . . . . 950,000 & 4 384,000,000
Illinois, . . . 735,000 & & 294,000,000
Missouri, . . . . . . . 600,000 & C 240,000,000
Arkansas, . . . . . . 152,400 « 60,960,000
Michigan, . . . . . . . 370,000 6 & 148,000,000
Florida, . . . . . . . 75,000 & 4 30,000,000
Wisconsin, . . . . . . 215,000 (4. 86,000,000
Iowa, . . . . . . . . . 130,000 £ 6 52,000,000
Texas, . . . . . . . . 140,000 ( & 56,000,000
Dist. Columbia, 46,000 & C 18,400,000
Oregon, . . . . . . . . 20,000 4. 8,000,000
Total, . . . . . . 20,746,400 $8,298,560,000
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 187
As this little work is on the history of the precious
metals generally, perhaps it will not be out of place, if
we. insert the foregoing table, showing the estimated
value of the property, real and personal, in each State,
and so of the United States. People love to know
how much their neighbors are worth, and perhaps the
same spirit of inquiry will lead to the desire of know-
ing what amount of property is possessed by a neigh-
boring, or their own, State. It is from the Report of
the Commissioner of Patents for 1847.
It is necessary to explain on what principle this ta-
ble is constructed, which we do in the language of the
Commissioner of Patents.
The following is the principle on which the prece-
ding table is constructed. We have obtained the val-
uation of real and personal property, upon which the
taxes are assessed, in the States of Pennsylvania and
Ohio for 1847, and that of New York in 1846. To
the latter we have added three per cent., being the
ratio of increase of population. Making this addition
to the valuation of New York, the following are the
amounts for the three non-slaveholding states above
named.
Valuation in 1847.
New York, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $634,977,913
Pennsylvania, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 465,789,951
Ohio, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409,897,379
$1,510,665,243
As the valuation of property, with a view to the
188 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
assessment of taxes, is at least twenty-five per cent. be-
low its actual value, we add to the above sum one
fourth part, or twenty-five per cent, in order to get at
the true amount of property, real and personal, in
these three States above named, which is $371,666,553
=$1,888,331,553.
The population of the above States, according to
our estimate of population, submitted with the crops,
is as follows:
New York. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,780,000
Pennsylvania, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2,125,000
Ohio, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1,850,000
6,755,000
Dividing the aggregate amount of property by the
aggregate population of the three states, the result is
$279,694 per head. -
We have also the valuations of two slave-holding
states, Kentucky and Maryland, for 1846. They are
as follows:
Kentucky, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $242,388,967
Maryland, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 177.555,846
* $419,945,813
To this sum we add three per cent., the ratio of increase of popula-
tion, in order to bring it up to 1847, which is, . . . . . . . . 12,235,344
And twenty-five per cent. for undervaluation, as in the case of the
three free states, which is, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108,135,789
Making the whole . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $540,678,946
The population of Kentucky and Maryland in 1847,
according to our estimate, is as follows:
PR E C I O U S M ET A L S. 189
Kentucky, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 855,000
Maryland, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 495,000
1,350,000
Dividing the aggregate amount of the property by
the aggregate population of the two States we have
last mentioned, we have $400 for each individual.
Now it cannot be supposed that the assessors of
taxes in the States of Kentucky and Maryland have
over-estimated the property to be taxed. And admit-
ting that they have not under-estimated it, the result
would give a little over $320 per head of the popula-
tion. Adhering to our belief that property in the
States of Kentucky and Maryland would be as likely
to be undervalued for taxation as in the States of
New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio; but believing
that, in consequence of slaves being subjects of valu-
ation and taxation, more property is visible, and more
readily assessed than in the three last, we adhere to
the allowance of twenty-five per cent. for undervalua-
tion. We therefore take for the basis of the above
the sum of $400, and apply it to the population of the
whole Union. The result is $8,298,560,000, as shown
by the table. -
Another important and interesting table constructed
by the Commissioner of Patents is the following:
190 H IS TO R Y O F THE
TABLE
Exhibiting an estimate of the value of the products of labor and capital in the United
States, for the year 1847.
Articles. Bushels. ;: Value in dollars.
Wheat, . . . . . . . 114,245,500 1,20 137,094,600
Indian Corn, . . . . . 537,350,000 40 215,740,000
Barley, . . . . . . . 5,649,460 80 4,519,960
Rye, . . . . . . . . . 29,222,500 65 18,994,625
Oats, . . . . . . . . 167,867,000 25 41,966,750
Buckwheat, . . . . . 11,673,500 50 5,836,750
Potatoes, . . . . . . . 100,950,000 20 20,190,000
Beans, . . . . . . . . 25,000,000 100 25,000,000
Peas, . . . . . . . . 25,000,000 1,20 30,000,000
Tons.
Hay, . . . . . . . . . 13,319,900 | 8,00 106,559,200
Hemp and Flax, . . 116,207 |150,00 17,431,050
Pounds.
Tobacco, , . . . . . . 220,164,000 05 11,008,200
Cotton, . . . . . . . 1,041,500,000 07 72,905,000
Rice, . . . . . . . . . 103,040,500 | . 03 3,091,215
Sugar, . . . . . . . 324,940,500 06 19,496,430
Silk Cocoons, . . . . 404,000 2,00 808,000
Hops, . . . . . . . . 1,510,977 10 151,097
Beeswax, . . . . . . 766,530 22 168,636
Gallons.
Molasses, . . . . . . 13,000,000 || 25 3,250,000
Wine, . . . . . . . . 152,175 1,00 152,175
Straw and Chaff. . . 74,000,000
Pasturage after Crops 7,500,000
Total, $815,863,688
Other Articles. -
Products of Orchards, . . . . . . . . . . . . 8,853,422
Products of Gardens, 3,000,000 at $15, . . . 45,000,000
Products of Nurseries, sale of trees, &c., 724,000
Products of Sheep, wool, 60,000,000 lbs. 30c. 18,000,000
Neat Cattle, sold for beef, . . . . . . . . . . . 40,000,000
Swine, 23,000,000, at $5, . . . . . . . . . . 115,000,000
Horses, Mules, and Asses, . . . . . . . . . . 7,934,250
PR ELC I O U S M ET A L S. 191
TABLE-Continued.
Other Articles, Value in dollars.
Poultry, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11,499,180
Produce of the Dairy, . . . . . . . . . . . . 41,220,149
Amount of Live Stock and products, . . . . 246,054,578
Products of the forest, wood, game, timber, &
and furs, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59,099,620
Products of the fisheries, whale and all, . . 17,069,262
Capital in trade, profits at 6 per cent., . . . . 23,458,345
Manufactures, all sorts, . . . . . . . . . . . 550,000,000
Mines of metal, coal, and stone, . . . . . . . 74,170,500
Bank capital, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • 209,331,000
Insurance capital, profits of, . . . . . . . . . . 25,000,000
Money loaned, profits of, . . . . . .T • * s • a 25,000,000
Rents of houses and lands, . . . . . . . . . . 50,000,000
Professions, law, physic, &c., profits of, . . 50,000,000
Grand total of the value of the products of —
labor and capital for 4847, . . . . . . . . $1,985,293,535
OBSERVATIONs. “In estimating the value, for 1847,
of several articles of the above table, the amount, as
given by the census for 1840, is assumed as the basis,
and 22 per cent. added to that sum, which is the ratio
of the increase of population during the last seven
years, it being reasonable to suppose that the value of
the industry and capital of the Union has increased in
proportion to the increase of population.” The Com-
missioner has made many other explanations, which,
for our purpose, it is not necessary to copy. Where
families are concerned, four millions are allowed, of
five persons each, thus making the population of the
United States twenty millions. -
We insert the following, to show the enormous sums
of money required to carry on the machinery of Mon-
*
192
T H E
H IS TO R Y O F
archical governments. It exhibits the amount of
debts, the population, and the revenues of the five
principal governments of Europe.
ENGLAND.
Debt, . . $4,000,000,000
Revenue, . 200,000,000
Population, . . 28,000,000
Making the debt thirteen times greater
than the revenue, and the indebtedness
Russia.
Debt, . . . . $300,000,000
Revenue, 86,000,000
Population, 50,000,000
Making her debt more than three times
her revenue, and equal to $6 for every soul
equal to about $142 to every soul of her
population.
AUSTRIA.
FRANCE. Debt, . $300,000,000
Debt, . $780,000,000 Revenue, . I00,000,000
Revenue, . 192,000,000 Population, 37,000,000
Population, 35,000,000 Debt, three times more than her revenue,
Making a debt four times greater than
her revenue, and equal to $22 to each indi-
vidual of her population.
and equal to $9 for every soul.
PRUss I.A.
Debt, . $100,000,000
Revenue, 40,000,000
Population, 15,000,000
Debt, two and a half times her revenue,
and equal to $7 for each man, woman, and
child.
INCREASE AND DIMINUTION OF THE PRECIOUs METALs
FROM THE MINEs. It has been stated in the foregoing
pages, that from the time of Imperial Rome down to the
twelfth century, there had been a gradual decrease of the
precious metals in the world. About that period there
was a golden mania which pervaded most civilized na-
tions, but the amount of the metals obtained was only
sufficient to supply the demand without much increas.
ing the quantity before in existence. From that time
to the discovery of America, there was again a grad-
ual diminution, owing, as before, to abrasion, and the
conversion of the metals to other uses than coin.
PR E C I O U S M ET A L S . - 193
For about two and a half centuries before 1824, the
largest proportions of silver and gold with which the
world was supplied, came from Mexico and South
America. From 1824, owing to the civil commotions
in Mexico and some of the South American States,
only one half, or perhaps less than half, their former
supplies has been produced down to the present time.
Of the two precious metals, gold came chiefly from
Brazil, New Grenada and Chili; and silver from Mex-
ico and Peru, though each of these countries yield
more or less of both metals.
Since the commencement of the present century,
although the South American mines have, as above
stated, diminished, those of Russia, in the Ural moun-
tains, have greatly increased, so that within the last fif-
teen years, before the discovery of California, the pro-
duct of Russia in gold is said to be greater than that
of all the world beside. In the United States, the an-
nual amount of gold delivered at the mints has been
gradually on the increase for several years. So that
even before the discovery of the new gold region, from
which so much is expected, there appears to have been
no diminution, but probably a gradual increase of the
precious metals in the world.
The following estimate of the total products of Gold
and Silver from the mines of America, from its discov-
ery in 1492 to January 1846, is from an article on fi-
nancial statistics by M. Chevalier of Paris.
194
O F T H E
H IS TO R Y
Countries.
United States, .
Mexico, e tº
New Grenada, . . .
Peru, . . . . . . . .
e - e. e. e.
Total amount for 354 years, . . .
º
tº º e s is is
© & 8 tº º e
tº º - & © -º º e º 'º º e º e º e
• * * * * * e º e º 'º e º e g
& a e - e. e. e º tº º
Value in dollars.
. I1,904,000+
2,755,218,000
. . 367,064,000
2,620,368,000
. 856,716,000
. 199,020,000
6,810,290,000
Annual production of the Gold and Silver mines in America at the present time.
(From Stryker's Quarterly Register, JMay, 1848.) -

Countries.
United States,
Mexico, . . . . . .
New Grenada, .
Peru,
Bolivia,
Brazil,
Chili,
Various,
* * * * * * * *
• * * * * * *
• a e s - e s e
• * e e s e s a
* * * * * *
Silver value in francsi Gold, value in francs. |Total value in dollars.
• * * * * * * 6,499,000 1,208,814
86,793,000 || 10,184,000 | 18,037,722
1,086,000 || 17,062,000 3,375,528
25,146,000 || 2,439,000 5,130,810
11,334,000 1,529,000 2,429,718
e e”, e < * * * 8,610,000 1,601,460
7,437,000 3,689,000 2,069,436
4,444,000 1,722,000 1,145,773
136,480,000 || 51,434,000 || 34,952,004
...Annual quantities of Gold and Silver delivered by different countries into the general
market.
Countries. Silver, value in francs|Gold, value in francs. Total value in dollars.
America, . . . . . . 136,480,000 || 51,434,000 || 34,952,004
Europe, . . . . . . 26,667,000 4,478,000 5,792,970
Russia, . . . . . . . 4,604,000 |402,864,000 || 75,789,048
Sunda Islands, . . . . . . . . . . 16,189,000 3,011,154
Africa, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13,778,000 2,564,708
Various, . . . . . . 4,444,000 3,444,000 1,467,168
Total in the world, 472,195,000 |192,189,000 |123,577,052

With respect to the amount derived from Russia, it
is proper to state that the products from that country
* We have already seen that the quantity of United States gold coined at the mints
down to 1848, was $13,641,053,
P R E CI O U S M ET A L S. 195
have increased nearly a hundred fold within the last
ten years. - -
The amount of specie imported into the United
States from 1842 to 1847, inclusive, is stated at $64,-
207,043; and the amount exported during the same pe-
riod, $23,699,043, making the difference in our favor of
$38,608,000.
CHAPTER XXVII.
LONDON MEXICAN MINING courasies.
AT the present time, when scores, if not hundreds,
of Californian mining or trading companies have been
formed, or are now forming, and by which the country,
at least for a time, is to lose the services of thousands
of our industrious and enterprising young men, it may
be well for the public to be informed that the golden
mania, which now seems to be a universal epidemic, is
not without a precedent, even within the memory of
IQ a.ſ.l. - - •
But the most important portion of the following ac
count, (and for which purpose it is here inserted,) is that
which shows the results of the costly outfits and high ex-
pectations in which the seventy-two mining companies
of London indulged. It will be seen, from the sudden
and enormous rise of the stock, that no doubt was en-
tertained that immense fortunes would be realized, now
196 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
that Europeans, with all their scientific skill, could have
free access to a land which was believed to be almost
every where underlaid by more or less precious metal.
Our authority is McCulloch's Dictionary of Commerce.
“The mania for mining concerns, which raged in
London and the empire generally in 1824 and 1825, after
the opening of Mexico and other parts of Spanish Amer-
ica to our intercourse, form a remarkable and, we are
sorry to say, disgraceful era in our commercial history.
Now that the madness is past, we have difficulty in
conceiving how men in the habit of sober calculation
could be led to entertain such romantic expectations,
and to pay such high premiums for shares in distant
and uncertain undertakings. We may therefore be ex-
cused for appropriating a page or two to the history of
an infatuation hardly second to that which led to the
South Sea and Mississippi schemes.”
The mining companies formed at the outset had some
sort of basis for favorable expectations, their directors
having made contracts for a number of mines in Mex-
ico, described by Humboldt as having enriched many
hundred families. This particularly applies to the Real
del Monte Company, whose mines are situated in the
mountainous district of that name; to the Anglo-Mex-
ican Company, whose mines are at Guanaxuato, the
principal mining quarter in Mexico; and to the United
Mexican Company, whose contracts, though far too
widely spread, comprise several valuable mines at Zaca-
tecas, Sombrerete, and other parts. These associations
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 197
were formed in London early in 1824, and during the
spring and summer of that year, their stock, or shares,
bore only a small premium; but towards the winter it be-
gan progressively to rise, to the surprise of several of the
directors, seeing it arose less from any favorable intel-
ligence from the mines, (for the accounts from Mexico
merely reported the arrival of the English agents,) than
from a blind ardor and spirit of speculation in the pub-
lic—a spirit which, seeing nothing tempting in our
funds, or in those of continental Europe, directed itself
to distant objects, and particularly to Spanish America.
It appeared as if our countrymen were about to reap
an immediate harvest; to lay their hands on a treasure
hid from the beginning of the world. America, it was
said, had been discovered, in one sense, about three
centuries, but this was the true discovery—the effectu-
al access to its resources. Every new contract for a
Mexican mine produced a rise in the shares of the other
companies, as if the fresh undertaking must necessarily
be a source of profit to others. And the result was,
that in January, 1825, the premium on the shares of
each of the companies mentioned below, arose from 100
to 500 per cent., although no substantial reason could
be given for any advance whatever. . It must not, how-
ever, be imagined that this rise of price was occasioned
solely by the competition of individuals who intended
to continue to hold the stock, and to trust to the divi-
dends made by the companies for a return. That this
was the case in the first instance, is generally true;
17*
198 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
but others, actuated by very different views, speedily
entered the field. $º.
A peculiar combination of circumstances, at the head
of which must be placed an almost incredible degree
of ignorance and folly on the part of a considerable
portion of the public, on the subject in question, spread
a spirit of gambling among all classes. Many who
were most eager in the pursuit of shares, intended only
to hold them for a few days or weeks, in order to profit
by the rise which they anticipated would take place,
by selling them to others more bold and credulous
than themselves. The confidence of one set of specu-
lators confirmed that of others. Meanwhile the public
gullability, or rather its indiscriminating rapacity, was
liberally supplied with food for increased expectations.
Company after company was formed without any pre-
vious contract for mines; in other words, without any
foundation whatever! The plan was, to fix on a dis-
trict in America understood to contain mines—to form
a company bearing the name of such district—to ob-
tain a first installment from the shareholders, and to send
out agents, or commissioners, as they were termed, to
survey the district, and engage the mines. Such was
the case in most of those having the names of districts
in South America, subjoined to the present statement.
It was the case also of the Hispaniola or St. Domingo
Company, formed on the basis of accounts given by
Dr. Robinson, of mines wrought in that island some
three centuries ago. And yet, clergymen, lawyers, and
P-R E CI O U S M ET A L S , , 199
even the nobles of the land, were candidates for shares
in these miserable bubbles, in the hope of finding some
dupe to buy their shares at a premium, but in which
most of them were very luckily disappointed.
Such was the incredible folly and madness of that
time, and such the blindness which the anticipated
glitter of the precious metals created, that seventy-two
of these companies were formed or projected in and
about the city of London alone. Several were also
formed in Germany, and we believe a few in the United
States.
As the year 1825 proceeded, the mining mania grad-
ually declined, not from any sinking of the prospects of
the companies, but from the want of money in London
to carry on the business. Speculative merchants had
that year made immense importations of cotton, silk,
wool, timber, and other articles, and large sums were
wanted to pay for these ; the banks were drained; dis-
counts were difficult; and in this state of things mining
shares and South American stock were brought into
market; but the holders found to their consternation
that the public had recovered its senses.
The panic of December, 1825, now came upon the
mining companies, the merchants, and others who had
entered into speculations. The shares of the three
principal mining companies, some of which had been
at a premium of 500 per cent., fell to par, that is, £100
in money; and no more could be obtained for £100 of
the company’s stock. This price was maintained for
200 H Is To R Y 0 F T H E
a considerable time, because most of the parties inter-
ested continued to have a favorable impression of the
final result of their speculations. Demands were how-
ever made on the shareholders, of additional sums, to
meet the expenses of their agents in America, and all
the pressure of these demands was felt by the unfor-
tunate ones, who found themselves still in possession of
mining stock, and who had already suffered greatly by
the sudden change of times. In 1826 and 1827, mining
shares progressively declined, so that the original stock,
which cost £100, could be sold for only £20, or £25
in cash. All the bubble speculating companies now
met their fate, and were entirely destroyed, while a few
of the original projectors, who had leased some fortu-
nate mines, still maintained their ground.
These comparatively lucky companies, it appears,
would have followed the general example, had not the
directors been able to enforce further payments, by a
resolution of forfeiture in default thereof, of all that
had been previously paid by the subscribers. The con-
tract was, that on becoming a subscriber to the deed
of the company, the shareholder made himself liable to
pay on demand such installments as the directors
should require, which were generally £10, until the
amount of the share, £100, should be completed. Now,
a stockholder who had advanced £50 or £60, naturally
consented to pay an additional £10, from time to time,
rather than incur the forfeiture of the whole. For those
who held only a few shares this was a small matter, but
P. R. E. C I O U S M ET A L S. 201
to as many as had a large amount of this stock on
their hands, and had already lost thousands by it, even
nearly to their ruin, these installments became a griev-
ous burden. Such often raised the money with great
difficulty, being obliged even to sell their family prop-
erty at great loss, or to prevail on their friends to ad-
vance on the shares the amount wanted, which was
often done with reluctance, there being no evident pros-
pects of any return from the stock. Resentment would
of course have been excited against the directors for
bad management, had they not been the heaviest suf-
ferers, the regulations requiring them to hold a certain
number, perhaps twenty or thirty shares ; but in their
blind confidence, many of them had taken two hundred
or three hundred, which in many cases resulted in
their utter ruin.
Success of the remaining Companies in Mearico. It
appears that the original projectors of these mining
companies were misled by their ignorance, rather than
a desire to deceive the public. There had before that
time been little communication between England and
Spanish America, this being prevented by the mo-
nopoly of Old Spain. It was therefore only after the
independence of Mexico that such information began
to be received. Of the thousands settled in that coun-
try, and whom the civil wars compelled to leave, few
found their way to London, most of them having either
returned home, or settled in Cuba, or in the south of
France, and hence little or no information was obtained
202 * , H IS TO R Y O F T H E
from these fugitives. Of the published accounts of
Mexico, Humboldt's at that time was the chief, and al-
though that illustrious traveler gave a glowing account
of the silver which the mines had afforded, yet his book
was not written for the purpose of directing future
mining companies, and especially twenty-five years
after his visit. It was understood generally that silver
mines in Mexico formed the main branch of productive
industry in that country, and that many of the inhab-
itants of Old Spain had risen to great opulence through
such means; but no idea was entertained of the extent
of injury which the mines had sustained during the civil
wars, nor of the amount of expenditure required to
again bring them into a working state. It was how-
ever found by the agents of the companies that the na-
tives knew very little about the management of the
mines, having been mere laborers, most commonly un-
der hard and unrelenting masters, and that these had
either fallen during the revolutionary struggle, or left
the country afterwards. The agents therefore found
that, although miners could be hired to dig the ore, yet
none remained who understood the most important part
of the work, that of extracting the silver from it.
The Mexicans, of whom the mines had been leased
for certain sums, not depending on their products, had
but a single object in view, which was to cause English
capital to be circulated in their country, thus giving
employment to their people for a time, and bringing
their mines into a working state; in doing which, they
PREC I O U S M ET A L S. 203
hoped the funds of these strangers would be exhausted,
and their contracts given up.
Actuated by these views, they pressed one under-
taking after another on the agents of the companies,
who, hoping for great results in the end, engaged too
large a number of mines, and working them with no
experience, and as though their funds were unlimited,
expended the latter in the hope that the mines would
soon make ample returns. But the products, though
they increased with the experience of the undertakers,
were comparatively small, from the imperfect manner
in which the metal was extracted from its ore.
The superintendants, so far from having had expe-
rience in the art of mining at home, were many of them
entirely ignorant of the business, having never entered,
or even seen a mine, before their arrival in Mexico.
Some were officers, either naval or military, on the
half-pay list, whose habits, whatever might have been
their personal merits, were very different from those
required for such duties. The truth seems to be, that
the directors at home, hearing of the abundance of sil-
ver in Mexico, concluded that a sufficient quantity
could be found with little experience or trouble, and
hence, provided that their agents were honest men, with
sufficient vigilance to superintend the business, that
nothing more was required; but in this, it appears, they
were in an error, which cost the companies vast sums
of money. -
The expense of conveying the requisite mining ma-
204 H [ S T' O B. Y U R" i iſ E
chinery from the coast of Mexico to the mines, often at
great distances, absorbed much capital. The country
has few practical roads; and draught carriages were, at
least then, almost entirely unknown, while labor was
high, and the people unskilled in the mechanical arts,
so that carpenters, blacksmiths, and engineers, had to
be transported from home at a heavy expense.
Magnitude and Earpenses of some of the Mearican
Mines. But, during the present mining, or gold-seeking
mania—and which, we are afraid, will as far excel that
above described, as Americans excel the cold, calcula-
ting English, in ardor and enterprise—perhaps it may
be well to point out, more particularly than we have
done, some of the causes of failure which they expe-
rienced. This we do for the purpose of showing that
the profits of mining for the precious metals, even
in a country said to possess three thousand mines,
have ever been small, when compared with the re-
sults of the same amount of labor and money ex-
pended in other pursuits. In Mexico, the business of
excavating the earth for her treasures, has been, from
the first discovery of the country, the chief employ-
ment of her inhabitants, and their entire source of
wealth. All the world has heard of the riches of these
mines, and it is true that vast amounts of the precious
metals have been derived from them ; but there are few
who know at what expense they have been obtained.
By expense, we here mean labor and money; for, if
human suffering could be represented by the latter,
P R E C [ O U S M ET A L S . 205
no man would be able to estimate the annual expense
of these mines, especially when in the hands of the
Spaniards. -
The causes of failure depended on a great many cir-
cumstances besides those already mentioned, and which,
as will be seen, combined to raise the expenses of work-
ing the mines to great amounts, and, for many of these,
the companies were entirely unprepared—a good lesson
for those who undertake a business in which they have
had no experience, and for which they had no quali-
fications.
These mines are all below the surface of the earth,
and some of them at great depths, and the expense of
making adits and excavations, either new, or where
they had caved in since they had been worked, was
sometimes immense. To the use of steam engines,
the want of fuel was, in many instances, a complete
barrier, there being large tracts of country without
al, single tree ; and, had the fuel been abundant, the
engines would have required the construction of roads
for their transportation. If mules were substituted for
steam, still the difficulty was not diminished—since, in
some cases, no food could be obtained for these ani-
mals, and in others, no water. In many instances the
agents found that great labor and expense had been for-
merly incurred, which were of no value. Thus, at one
of the mimes, an adit, which had been cut two thousand
feet into the mountain, and seven hundred feet below
the surface, was nearly useless, because it opened above
1S
206 H IS TO R Y O F THE
**s.
the bottom of the shaft, and thus failed to operate as a
drain, for which purpose only it had been constructed.
Of course these large expenditures increased the rents
of the mines, whether useful or not. The expense of
the famous Real del Monte mines to the English com-
*
pany, may be inferred from a few items which we
extract from Ward's Mexico. The excavation, called
Moran, formerly required six hundred mules in convey-
ing the ore over the mountain to the place where the
metal was extracted. The company, to avoid this
expense, constructed a road for the conveyance of
steam engines to the mines, which were transported
from Vera Cruz, at, of course, a great expense.
But the situation being such as to admit of their
use, this new experiment succeeded. They also con-
structed a new adit, three thousand and six hundred feet
in length; the whole expense of putting this mine
into working order being $2,000,000. It appears that
all this labor and expense was incurred in anticipa-
tion of returns, of which there is, by no means, any
certainty.
The Del Monte mine formerly yielded a vast income,
since, it is said, that the ancient proprietor, in twelve
years, drew from it, in clear profit, the amount of
$6,000,000, and gave to Charles III, of Spain, two ships
of war, each of one hundred and twelve guns, built of
the most costly materials, and for which he was created
a Count. At present it does not pay for working.
The Valenciana mine, also occupied by one of the
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S , 207
*s
London companies, was worked in the 16th century.
The labor and expense which the Spaniards had laid
out on this mine was also immense. The excavated
road, through which the ore was brought, is about half
an English mile in length. One of the shafts cost
$396,000, and another $700,000 ; but both were found
insufficient, and a new one, called the octagon, was
commenced in 1801, and, after twenty years’ labor, at
an expense of $100,000, attained the depth of nearly
thirteen hundred feet. When the English company
took possession of this mine, it contained nine hundred
feet of water, which, of course, had to be drained,
before any of the ore could be extracted. Besides,
it was found that the timber, which had supported the
interior, had decayed, and, in many parts, the earth had
caved in. Steam engines could not be employed at
this mine, for want of fuel, and therefore mules were
the only power that could be used to raise the nine
hundred feet of water it contained. In eighteen months
the expenses of the company, on this mine, were nearly
$700,000; and, at the time of Mr. Ward’s visit, there
were strong hopes of ultimate success, and large returns,
though nothing then had been realized, and doubts ex-
isted whether the shaft could ever be drained by ani-
mal power, the difficulty constantly increasing in pro-
portion to the depth. These are examples of the diffi-
culties and expenses which the companies in question
experienced in nearly every instance, though it is
proper to state that the above named, being the deep-
208 H IS TO R. Y O F T H E
est, and most important of the mines in their hands,
required proportionate exertions and expenditures.
To what extent the London companies, still occupy-
ing mines in Mexico, have been successful, we have no
means of determining. It is estimated that the num-
ber of mines in that country, as above stated, amounts
to three thousand; but it is believed that a large por-
tion of this number have long since ceased to be profit-
able, and therefore have been abandoned. Only a very
few of these have ever been wrought by Englishmen,
while the Mexicans themselves, since their political
revolution, have, to a considerable extent, resumed
their wonted business of extracting the precious metals.
We have seen that the former income from these
mines has been estimated at about $25,000,000 yearly.
From Mayer's Mexico, we learn that the annual coin-
age in that city amounted to about $12,000,000, an-
nually, for a number of years, previous to 1843. This,
we infer, is not exclusive of the incomes of the London
companies.
The following table shows, at a glance, the fate or
success of the London companies, which actually went
into operation in Mexico. The whole number, as
stated near the commencement of this article, amounted
to seventy-two; but, so far as we have been able to
learn, the seventeen to be named were the only ones
which took possession of mines. The remaining fifty-
five were broken up and dissolved, at the time when
that immense bubble, founded by these companies,
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. -- 209
burst, spreading desolation and ruin among thousands,
as already described. -
English Mining Companies connected with America,
which are still carried on.
UNITED MEXICAN, MEXICAN,
REAL DEL MONTE, BRAZILIAN,
ANGLO-MEXICAN, COLUMBIAN.
The amount of capital invested by the above six
companies, is about $25,000,000.
The following list of English Mining Companies in-
cludes the above. It shows the number of shares in
each, the sums paid, the dividends, &c. It is an in-
structive commentary on the prices of 1825. It was
published by Mr. Edmonds, broker, of London, in 1833.

Mining companie |3:... ** | *::::: ºf
if | f s. d. £ s. d. | f s. d.
Anglo-Mexican, . . . . 14,000 || 100 100 0 0 paid. | 12 00
Bolanos, . . . . . . 2,000 || 150 | 150 0 0 — 132 10 0 || 11 0 0 .
Bolivar, . . . . . . . 10,000 || 50 20 0 0 — | 13 0 0 -
Brazilian, £5 premium, . 10,000 || 35 25 0 .0 — 58 0 0 || 7 10 0
Brazilian, . e - - , 7,058 15 1 10 0 — 5 0 0 | —
Brazilian, National, . 6,000 || 25 | 20 0 0 — 23 10 0 | —
British Iron, . . . . . . 20,000 || 50 50 0 0 — 27 10 0 | —
Colombian, . . . . . 10,000 || 55 51 10 0 — | 12 15 0 | —
General Mining, . . . . . 20,000 | 20 | 11 0 0 — 9 0 0 | —
Hibernian, . . . . . 9,204 || 50 | 10 0 0 — 3 10 0 | —
Real del Monte, . . . . 11,582 || 64 || 64 0 0 – 55 0 0 || –
United Mexican, . . . 30,000 | 40 | 40 0 0 — 13 0 0 || —
Ireland Mining Co. . . . . 20,000 25 5 10 0 — 1 5 0 | —
St. John del Rey, . . . 5,000 | 20 | 10 0 0 — 6 0 0
English Mining Co. . . . . 2,850 25 | 12 10 0 — 28 0 0 || 2 0 0
Mexican Co. . . . . . 6,155 100 || 48 0 0 — | 12 00
18%
210 H IS TO R Y U F T H E
The above table, as stated, was published in London
in 1833, and therefore shows the prices of the shares at
that time. The stock in all the companies had been
paid for, either in full or to a large amount, showing
that their business did not fail for want of expected
funds; and yet, of these seventeen mining establish-
ments, all of which went into operation, it appears that
only three had received a single penny of returns. The
aggregate amount of cash paid for these shares was
enormous. Thus, the capital of the United Mexican
was $6,000,000, and the Anglo-Mexican $7,000,000;
and yet the table, for both, shows only a blank for re-
turn.S. -
The history of these companies, and especially the
blanks in the above table, are a sufficiently serious
commentary on the high expectations in which the
stockholders in mining companies have always, and in
every country, indulged. A man who buys stock in
a cotton factory is contented, provided he gets a fair
return for his money, for he expects nothing more; but
he who pays his cash for mining stock, (especially if it
is for silver and gold,) must first bě convinced that the
prospect is even more than fair for large returns. The
reason is plain, for every one knows, or might know,
that this has generally been the most uncertain of all
investments; and yet, as some have made large for-
tunes by mining, with no better prospects, so others
are willing to believe that present indications are equal
to former ones, and no one can tell into whose hands
S.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 211
the next prize will fall. Thus men can everywhere be
found, who, being eager for sudden fortunes, are ready
to risk, at least small sums, on the same principle that
the gambler puts down his shilling for a throw ; if he
loses, it is but little; and if he wins, it may be much.
CHAPTE R XXVIII.
VALUE OF THE PRECIOUS METALs, COMPARED WITH THE EXPENSE of
OBTAINING THEM.
HAVING examined, as far as in our power, the his-
tory, methods of working, and statistics, of the princi-
pal gold and silver mines in the world, from the days
of the Pharaohs down to the present time, we have
come to the conclusion that no business in which men
have been engaged, has paid, on an average, so poor
returns as that of mining for the precious metals. It
is true that, during those remote periods of history,
when nations were in bondage to their chiefs, labor was
considered of little value, whether in the mines or in
the field. But with respect to the hardships to be
endured, that of working in the mines has ever been
considered, of all employments, the most cruel and
destructive to human life, even down nearly to the
present time. And yet it is most probable that, if
we estimate human labor and suffering at a penny a
212 H IS T' O R Y O F T H E
day for each man, from the time of the Pharaohs down
to that of imperial Rome, the amount gained would not
pay for the time thus employed. --
(By mines, we here mean places where the precious
metals are sought, whether on or beneath the surface.
The distinction between eaccavated and surface mines,
is sufficiently obvious from the terms; but it must not be
understood that the latter is confined strictly to the
surface, the soil being moved with spades to the depth
of two or three, or sometimes fifteen or twenty feet, for
the purpose of finding the gold, which is the only metal,
except platinum, obtained by this sort of mining.)
It is true, that the above conjecture is hazarded
without authenticated statistics, in regard to the quan-
tity of the precious metals obtained, and the number
of people employed in working the mines by the an-
cient Egyptians, and other eastern nations. But we
have the historical fact that, for ages, and even down
to our times, all the Egyptian princes held their people
as vassals, whose labor, when required, was the rightful
property of the crown. The construction of the Lake
Mgeris, where thousands died of continued labor and
starvation, without even a promise of compensation, is
an example of the power and sympathy of the thrones
of that period. We know, also, that the eastern princes
possessed large quantities of gold in early times; and,
from analogy, there is, them, no probability that its cost
was more than the pittance of food given the miserable
slaves, who worked day and night for those sovereigns,
PR E CI O U S M ET A L’s. 213
and by which they were enabled to leave such enduring
monuments of their riches, power, and glory, as still to
excite the wonder of the world.
Whoever, in reading the history of ancient eastern
nations, considered the thirst that all men have had for
gold, will, we think, conclude with us, that the thou-
sands who wrought in the mines for centuries, did not,
on the average, produce a sufficient amount of gold to
pay a penny a day for the labor.
If we examine the results of the almost universal
golden mania, which continued for many years during
the 12th century, and of which we have given some
account, it will be found that, although vast sums were
expended in searching for and extracting the precious
metals, yet the quantity actually produced did no more
than supply the place of that which was lost by use and
abrasion, during the same time. Thus, while it is true
that the quantity of gold and silver in Europe was kept
from diminution by these operations, yet there was an
immense loss of labor and money to individuals, and so
to the country, amounting to the excess of expenses
over the products obtained. *
But perhaps it may be argued that mining, like other
arts, has so improved during the last century or two,
that more certainty now exists than formerly, with re-
spect to its prospects. But the history of the London
companies, already detailed, is a sufficient reply to this
suggestion ; for, if our readers will ascertain the amount
paid for the stock of all these companies, and then com-
214 H IS TO R Y O F T [H E
pare this with the dividends, as stated in the pre-
ceding table, they will find a loss of many millions,
which the largest products of the mines that could be
expected, or even hoped for, could not balance in half
a century. -
The richest silver mine in the world, for about half
a century, was that of Potosi. This yielded in
fifty-five years about $120,000,000, being at the rate of
upwards of two millions annually. In its vicinity it is
stated that a large village was built, containing several
thousand inhabitants, all, or most of whom, were
employed in working the mines. One of the shafts
of this mine, it is also stated, is nearly a mile in
depth, beginning at the top of a mural precipice, and
running below its base, with many outlets, or adits, one
above the other, at the sides. - &
The products of Potosi, after the period we have
stated, began to diminish, and after a few years yielded
only $500,000 per year, instead of two millions.
Whether or not it is entirely deserted at the present
time we are not informed ; but we infer from the ac-
counts, that a large portion of the village must have been
deserted for want of occupation ; and also that the
vast sums expended in excavating this mountain,
which is said to be pierced in all directions, were in
a measure lost, as the mines became exhausted of its
ore. Whether, in the result, the products of Potosí
were sufficient to pay all its expenses for sixty or sev-
enty years, we have no means of knowing.
P R E CI O U S M ET A L S. 215
But we will end these speculations on silver mines,
by giving the statistics of the Himmelsfurst, said to be
the richest in Saxony. The Saxon mines have been
worked ever since the twelfth century, and it is agreed
that none are conducted with so much science, skill
and economy, as these.
Miners employed, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 700
Working under ground, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 500
Horses employed, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
Total returns, annually, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $90,000
Cost per annum, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $72,200
Profits do., . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $17,800
Average cost of labor, thirty-four cents per day.
Here we see a mine conducted on the experience of
ages, aided by the German science and economy of the
present day; together with a rate of wages for under-
ground work only equal to one third what we pay to
common laborers, and yet the profits are small when
compared with almost any other kind of business con-
ducted with equal skill and economy. In no part of
our country would the products of this mine pay for
the labor and expense of working.
Conclusions on the subjects of Silver Mines. It is
not intended by the above statistics and remarks, that
the reader should conclude that many large individual
fortunes have not been made by mining for the pre-
cious metals. On the contrary, great numbers of
Spanish families acquired immense wealth by this
means. In most of these cases, however, it must be
remembered that little or nothing was paid for labor
216 H IS T O R Y O F T H E
in the mines, over the daily, and often very cheap and
scanty, food of the natives. Besides, these returns
were often the fruits of labor begun by the ancestors of
those into whose hands they fell. For, it must be under-
stood, that in Mexico mines have often been opened,
which, though worked for half a century or more,
yielded no profit; and yet the same mine, owing to the
discovery of a new vein, has produced for the next
generation large fortunes. Now such instances are
only illustrations of the uncertain products of all
mining districts. During one period there are large
accumulations of silver and gold, while during another,
little or nothing is gained, the poverty of the mine re-
quiring the expenditure of all that had been acquired,
until it was found that the metal had cost more than
its market value. -
If any of our readers will point out to the author
an instance in any country, where the average value
of the precious metal has exceeded the average value
of the labor of extracting it from the mine, where
labor has been *aid for, for a long series of years, he
will acknowledge a new feature in mining which he
has not heretofore discovered; and yet it is not cer-
tain that the Ural mountains will not produce such an
instance.
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S . - 217
CHAPTE R XXIX.
ESTIMATED EXPENSES OF OUTFITS FROM THE UNITED STATES TO CALI-
FORNIA.
OUR printer warns us that we have no time for
an elaborate contrast between the products of agri-
cultural labor and those of mining for the precious
metals, either with respect to the morality or wealth
of a nation or community. And yet we cannot in
conscience end this little work without offering a few
rough estimates in regard to the time and money
which the thirst for Californian gold is, at least, for
awhile, likely to deprive the United States; for, as
yet, that region of gold must be considered a foreign
country. .
Loss of Labor. The number of persons who have
sailed or marched for California, during the last three
months, ending the first of March, is estimated at
twelve thousand ; the number of ships or other vessels
at one hundred and fifty, making an average of eighty
persons to each vessel. In addition to these, there are
now up for the gold regions, according to the New
York papers, about forty vessels in different parts of
the country, and the probability is that as many
more will be offered, since the mania in some parts
of the country is said to be greatly on the increase.
It cannot, therefore, be considered a high estimate, if
19
218 H IS TO R Y O F THE
we suppose that by the first of May two hundred and
fifty vessels and twenty thousand persons will have
sailed for California.
Now these persons, nearly to an individual, are young
men in the prime and vigor of life, and most of them ca-
pable of enduring the ordinary fatigues of daily labor
in the field, in the shop of the mechanic, or in the
store of the merchant; otherwise they would be unfit
for the enterprise. Their time, then, at home, could
not have been worth less than fifty cents per day, on
the average, besides their board. Here, then, we have
the sum of $10,000 per day for the loss of labor alone.
With respect to the time, the outfits we believe have
not been made for less than two years, nor would it be
wise to undertake such a voyage for a shorter pe-
riod, since nearly one half this time will be employed
in going and returning. We have therefore the fol-
lowing estimates as to the value of time.
Twenty thousand persons at 50 cts. per day, . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000
Two years, Sundays excepted, 626 days, . . . . . . . . . . . $6,260,000
Outfits. With respect to the cost of the voyage, we
may estimate $300 to each person to be within the aver-
age. Many of the personal outfits amount to twice this
sum, and perhaps a few come within $250. In this it is
intended to include all extra articles, and which would
not have been used at home, as Colt’s revolvers,
rifles, India rubber beds, and extra clothing, together
with provision for the voyage. Many of the compa-
nies own the ships in which they sail, but the price of
PRECI ous METALs. 219
these does not come within our estimate, since they
may return or be sold at cost during the absence of
the owners, and therefore may constitute property
which will not be expended. We have, then, the fol-
lowing items of expense for Outfits, viz:
Vessels 250, each 80 persons, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20,000
Outfit for each person, $300, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,000,000
Loss of Labor at 50 cts. per day, . . . . . . . . . . . . . $6,260,000
Total for loss of labor and outfits, . . . . . . . . . . . . $12,260,000
(It may be observed that we have made no dis-
tinction between those who ship for Panama, and those
who sail for San Francisco by way of Cape Horn,
since the outfits, we believe, are the same.)
Subsistence in California. Having thus estimated
the costs of transportation, our next item must be the
expenses of subsistence for each individual while there.
We will suppose that the expense of clothing for the
two years is embraced in the $300 outfit. But this sum
cănnot be expected to pay the subsistence in addition
to the items we have enumerated. It is true, that
some of the associations have very judiciously, we un-
derstand, taken along with them provisions for a year,
but this, we are also informed, is an extra item, and
if so, should be taken into the general account of
subsistence, upon their arrival.
Now, as it is intended that these estimates shall fall
below the real expenses, we will allow only at the rate
of $300 a year for each man, commencing at the time
of his arrival at the gold regions, and ending on his
220 H IS TO R Y O F T H E
departure for home. The time we will suppose to be one
year, because the first six months’ subsistence has
already been included in the outfit, and the last we
will suppose to be occupied on the return voyage. We
have thus subsistence for twenty thousand men, one
year, at $300 each, $6,000,000.
The closing item is the expense of the return voy-
age, which at the end of two years, owing to the
arrangements of the government, and the establish-
ment of lines of packets, will undoubtedly be one
third cheaper than at present. We shall, therefore,
estimate this at $200, including subsistence. -
Return voyage, 20,000 men, at $200 each, . . . . . . . . . . $4,000,000
For subsistence one year, and return, . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000,000
It will be observed that we have allowed six months
for the outward voyage, and as many for the return.
This we have done for the convenience of estima-
ting in round numbers; but according to the mafi-
ner of making the estimates, it makes no difference
in the expenses, though it may shorten the time of
working at the mines.
It may be noticed, also, that these estimates are
founded on vessels which are expected to make the
entire voyage by sea, and not by Panama. The lat-
ter route, while it costs more, because provisions can-
not be transported across the isthmus, still is made in
less time, so that, on the whole, we have thought
the average already stated would fall within the truth
for both routes. The aggregate is as follows:
P. R. E. C. I O U S M ET A L S. 22I
Twenty thousand persons at 50 cts. per day, . . . . . . . . . . . . $10,000
Two years, Sundays excepted, 626 daysX10,000, . . . . . . . . . 6,260,000
Outfit for 20,000 persons at $300 each, . . . . . . . . . . . . 6,000,000
Subsistence for 20,000 men for one year at $300 each, . . . . . . . 6,000,000
Return voyage of 20,000, at $200 each, . . . . . . . . . . . . 4,000,000
Total amount, . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $22,260,000
Having shown these estimates to several friends per-
sonally concerned in outfits and adventures for Califor-
nia, and who, although expressing astonishment at the
result, could not deduct from the items, we offer them
as no exaggerated summary of the expenses of our
gold-seeking enterprise.
But in addition to this sum, the amount of specie
already sent to San Francisco, either for the purchase
of native gold, or other commercial purposes, is said
already to be equal to $500,000, and it is estimated that
this sum will be doubled during the present Spring, thus
making $1,000,000 in coin to be circulated, as an addi-
tion to the enormous quantities of precious metal
already existing in that region. This money is no
doubt highly necessary for the transaction of business
in that country, where, for the want of a circulating
medium of known value, great frauds are said to be
COYY]]]]OI).
The export of this coin from the country, although
it is said to have affected the money market unfavor-
ably, is a commercial transaction, which does not
come within the design of our estimates; the proba-
bility of rich returns into the hands of those who have
gone into this branch of business, affording a fair pros.
pect of satisfactory remuneration.
19%
222 H IS TO R Y O F THE
CoNCLUSION. It has been the design of the above
estimates to show what amount the people of the
United States will have appropriated by the first of
May, 1849, for Califormian gold, and if we have made no
false calculations, the total sum is upwards of twenty-
two millions of dollars. This sum, therefore, must be
subtracted from the amount of gold brought from that
country, before any average returns to the people of
the United States can be realized. After we have re-
ceived $22,260,000 in California gold, then the profits on
our expenditures will commence, but not before. On
the result, we must avoid expressing any opinion, leav-
ing those who read this book to form their own.
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