BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCCXXXIX. MAY, 1852. VOL. LXXI. CONTENTS. GOLD: ITS NATURAL AND CIVIL HISTORY, 517 LIFE OF NIEBUHR, 542 THOMAS MOORE, 559 MY NOVEL; OR, VARIETIES IN ENGLISH LIFE. PART XXI., 569 OUR LONDON COMMISSIONER. NO. II., 596 THE GOLD-FINDER, 607 THE VINEYARDS OF BORDEAUX, 617 THE DEMOCRATIC CONFEDERACY, 626 EDINBURGH: WILLIAM BLACKWOOD SONS, 45 GEORGE STREET; AND 37 PATERNOSTER ROW, LONDON. _To whom all communications (post paid) must be addressed._ SOLD BY ALL THE BOOKSELLERS IN THE UNITED KINGDOM. PRINTED BY WILLIAM BLACKWOOD AND SONS, EDINBURGH. BLACKWOOD’S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE. NO. CCCCXXXIX. MAY, 1852. VOL. LXXI. GOLD: ITS NATURAL AND CIVIL HISTORY.[1][2] The progress of knowledge naturally leads to the discovery not only of new arts, and of new uses for artificial productions, but of new stores of natural wealth in the bowels of the earth itself, and of new methods of extracting and rendering them useful. This last point is amply illustrated by the history of the progressive discovery and development of our own most valuable mineral treasures—the coal and ironstone deposits—which add so much both to our natural resources and to our national strength. But, independent of the advance of knowledge, the exploration and colonisation of new countries by a civilised race leads of necessity to the discovery of regions rich in mineral wealth, which were unknown before, and brings new metallic supplies into the markets of the world. When Spain conquered Mexico first, and afterwards Peru and Chili, Europe became flooded with the precious metals to a degree unknown before in the history of modern nations. When Russia began to explore her provinces on the slopes of the Ural, gold-washings were discovered, which have, by their enormous yield, made up for the deficient supply which commotion and misrule in Central and Southern America had caused in European countries. The possession of California by an observant and curious people, of Anglo-Saxon breed, was almost immediately followed by those wonderful discoveries which have made the world ring, and have attracted adventurers from every region. And, lastly, the turning of keen eyes upon river beds in Australia—still less known and examined than almost any district of America without the Arctic circle—has brought to light those vast stores of gold which appear destined to lay the basis of a new empire in the Australian archipelago.