Russian goods by taking in exchange nothing but silver or gold, with which they could purchase the cheaper manufactures of Europe at the ports open to commerce, and thus ruin the factories that had long supplied the China market; but inasmuch as the prohibition never prevented the transmission of specie to China when it was in demand or required to pay the balances of trade, the Russian Government in the year 1855 permitted the exportation of gold and silver in bars, jointly with merchandise in certain proportions, and of native coin to the extent of one-third of the value of manufactures, while it imposes no restriction on the exportation of foreign money.* * The enormous difference of price between tea of similar quality sold in Russia and England gave rise to a large contraband trade along the frontier, and insured to the smuggler a profit of cent. per cent. The Russian Government by a recent regulation has wisely reduced the duties on Canton tea, which will put a stop to much of this smuggling trade. It was formerly thought that the caravan tea was of a different and very superior quality to that of Canton, and that to this circumstance its higher price was chiefly referable. The fact is, M. Tegoborski says, that the two sorts come from the same plant and the same plantations, and the differences in quality are attributable to the period at which the leaves are gathered and the superior care with which they are prepared. An idea which was long prevalent that the sea voyage deprived the tea of a portion of its aroma has been refuted by experience. M. Tegoborski asserts that he has drunk good Canton tswietotschny, and the voyage had injured neither its flavour nor its aroma in the slightest degree. The Russian Government is understood, notwithstanding its recent partial reduction of the duty on tea imported from the coast, to be extremely desirous to preserve the Kiachta trade, as the interests of a considerable portion of the population of Siberia are intimately connected with it, and its serious decline would injure those factories which now work exclusively for China. Thirtyone thousand waggons are employed in this trade, and in a prosperous year nearly two millions of roubles have been distributed among the poorer classes of the Siberian population. The articles which China has hitherto received from Russia by the land transit are of considerable variety and value. Furs constitute an important item, but they are not of the most valuable species, only the paws and tails of the highly-prized *Tegoborski 'On the Productive Forces of Russia.' animals animals being allowed to be exported to China, where they are formed into dresses of patchwork patterns which are held in much estimation. The skins of the reindeer find a ready sale, and the horns of the animal, if killed at a particular season, are in request for a peculiar medicinal property which they are supposed to possess. Of woollens the import is considerable, and the bright colours imparted to them by the Russian manufacturers make them peculiarly attractive to Chinese taste; but the produce of the Belgian and Saxon looms are equally appreciated for their texture and fine gloss. The result of the competition with British goods brought to the Chinese markets is, in the opinion of Mr. Parkes, unfavourable to England. Cottons from Pomerania are said to be esteemed by the Chinese, and to be much preferred to those of England. For this preference and also for the superior estimation in which some other continental products are held among the Kirghis tribes, we fear some of our manufacturers or merchants are mainly answerable. Mr. Atkinson relates a circumstance as having come under his observation, which had at the time a very damaging effect. In 1849,' he says, 'a considerable quantity of English calicoes reached Yarkand* (a town on the Chinese frontier), Kokhan, and Tashkend. These were printed in the two latter towns in patterns to suit the taste of the people; from their superior quality and price the Tartar merchants were induced to purchase the goods and carry them in their trading expeditions among the nomades of Central Asia. They found a ready sale, and the people were delighted with their new garments. Several of these kalats were shown to me, and their superior quality commented on by their owners. All were anxious to possess them; thus the articles had at once established a character and a trade. The following year, when the merchants visited Kokhan and Tashkend, they obtained similar goods, and these were still more appreciated by the Kirghis. In 1851 the Tartar traders brought their goods as usual, which in appearance resembled those of former years. These were taken by the caravans into distant regions, and they also met with a ready sale. But, alas! the purchaser soon discovered that he had been victimised; the material proved to be complete trash, and the discovery caused a great reaction. It was a * Mr. Atkinson gives the following description of this frontier town:- Yarkand is a large town, which I was informed contains nearly 14,000 houses, and the population was estimated at from 85,000 to 90,000 in 1852; by some of the merchants at 100,000. There is also a Chinese garrison of 5000 men. It is a place of considerable trade, and a great number of Chinese, Tartar, Bokharian, and Cashmerian merchants reside here. The bazaars are three miles and a half in length, and on market-days present a busy scene. Rich silks and porcelains are conspicuously displayed; also embroidered karifa kalats, for which the Kirghis give twenty and thirty horses in exchange. Brick-tea appears in vast quantities, as well as printed calicoes from Kokhan. The looms of Cashmere contribute their quota to the mass of manufactured goods.' fact fact well known in Siberia that agents for English houses were in Kokhan. This was not only a disreputable transaction, but a most foolish experiment, which has done considerable injury to trade among these tribes.' The above is, we fear, only one of many instances in which the commercial character of England has been brought into disrepute and its interests jeopardized by the low morality of a few of our manufacturers. It may be in consequence of some similar deception that Russia possesses a monopoly of the trade in hardware among the tribes of Central Asia. Her iron, tin, and copper utensils find a ready market, as do her fire-arms, cutlery, locks, and buttons, which England ought to be able to supply of a quality and at a price that would make successful competition impossible. În leather Russia possesses a natural superiority. It is imported largely into China and the Kirghis territories, of all colours and qualities, for saddles, purses, bags, and other useful articles. Apparatus for opium-smoking, constructed in Russia, also finds a ready sale in China, and it is made the more inviting by being accompanied by the seductive drug, which does not, it thus appears, all proceed from the poppyfields of Bengal. The commerce of Russia with Asia has of late greatly increased. The imports from China increased, in a period of seventeen years ending in 1855, 45 per cent., and the exports to China 50 per cent. The exports of Russia to the whole of Asia for the same period have increased 30 per cent. The three countries, China, Persia, and the Steppes of the Kirghis, now represent more than four-fifths in value of the Russian Asiatic trade; that with the Kirghis has increased 67 per cent. in a period of seventeen years. The imports from this region were recently valued at 1,924,700 silver roubles, and the exports at 1,717,800. Cattle, sheep, and hides form 83 per cent, of the Russian imports from these people, and the chief exports are cotton manufactures, wheat, and leather.* There was a time when the cotton manufactures of China were largely consumed in Siberia, but the development of the Russian manufactures put an end to the trade, and China has for some time given little except tea in exchange for the commodities which it requires. The manufacturing industry of China is understood to be making much progress. It imports raw cotton largely from India, and in increasing quantities. It is the known and avowed policy of the Imperial Government to encourage a manufacturing interest. The quantity of English cotton cloth now imported is quite inadequate to supply the wants of 350 mil * Tegoborski 'On the Productive Forces of Russia.' lions of people. Whether these wants will be ultimately provided for from the mills of Great Britain or from the manufactories of China is uncertain. In China labour must be always cheap and superabundant, its internal industry is capable of furnishing almost everything that it requires, and Europe may eventually have to supply it only with a few articles of fancy or luxury. Its interior trade is known to be enormous, and a school of political economy (for China possesses able writers on the science) has recently arisen, which, rightly or wrongly, aims at making the country self-supporting. There are but two wants,' says M. Huc, which China is not able to supply for herself-namely, leather and furs-and these she will always be able to obtain most advantageously from Russia.' The opening of a direct communication by sea between Russia and the coast of Tartary may somewhat change the character of the intercourse between Russia and her Siberian provinces. Bulky commodities will now find an access to the Trans-Baikal territory from Europe at a comparatively moderate freight, and the commodities which are exported from Russia by sea will necessarily come into competition with those of other countries. A commercial undertaking, called the Amoor Company, has been formed, for trading to the recently-ceded territories, and supplying the native population and the settlers with Russian goods. Nicholaivsk is at present the seat of government for the Amoor province. Its climate is very bad. The town is situate on the left bank of the river, about twenty miles from its mouth. Before the year 1855 it contained only a few hundred inhabitants; its present population is about 3500, including a regiment of Cossacks. Mr. Tilley, the first and probably the only Englishman who has seen Nicholaivsk, and who visited it in a Russian corvette as a guest of the officers during a voyage in the Japanese and Chinese waters, gives a description of the town and the surrounding country which is far from attractive :: 'A desolate scene,' he says, 'is the termination of this mighty river. Pine-covered slopes extend for miles, their colour one monotonous brown, relieved only by the dark, cold green of another species of fir, which covers the summits of the hills. A peculiar form of some spot on the shore, with a plot of cabbages growing near it, pointed out the position of an earth battery, of which there are several before arriving at Nicholaivsk. Crossing from the south bank of the river obliquely to the northern, a short distance from the mouth, we kept along that shore, and at 6 A.M. cast anchor before Nicholaivsk. The town occupies a few hundred acres cleared from the surrounding forest. The houses are all of block construction, the trunks of pine being laid lengthways, lengthways, and the crevices stuffed with dried moss which everywhere carpets the forest. The church is of the same material, and has a tower and a fine set of bells presented by a rich merchant of Irkutsk. There are also government schools for the children of soldiers and officers. The houses of the governor, chief officers, and a few merchants are fitted up with all the comfort that European and Chinese upholstery can supply. Only two of them have more than one story. The streets are rendered just passable by a plank pavement, and all spaces not occupied by building or roads are covered by the still rooted stumps of trees.' Mr. Tilley, who was treated at Nicholaivsk with that hospitality which is the characteristic of Russian society in every part of the world, abstains with a becoming reserve from giving any details relating to the position, nature, and strength of the defences, but we believe we are correct in stating that the military force now maintained by Russia on the Amoor amounts to about 20,000 men, and these are distributed in small detachments along the river and the Chinese frontier. The approaches to Nicholaivsk are defended by batteries mounting sixty heavy guns, and the naval force of Russia in the Pacific, having been considerably increased, now amounts to 22 ships of war carrying 158 guns. The commercial interest of Nicholaivsk is at present concentrated in the North American Fur Company and the latelyformed trading company of the Amoor. To the first the Russian Government has granted many privileges, together with the exclusive trade with China, by way of Kiachta, in furs, for which tea is received in exchange for the supply of Siberia. company has several steamers plying on the Amoor. Amoor Company also possesses some valuable concessions. his return to the river from Castries Bay, Mr. Tilley found three large ships of the Company recently arrived freighted with matériel, together with two English engineers to superintend certain works which he does not describe. Some small boats of iron, drawing eighteen inches or two feet of water, have also, we are told, recently arrived, and that they will be followed by many others, constructed expressly for river navigation, and intended to push their way up the smaller streams into the very centre of Asia. This The On Opposite, and extending parallel to the coast of the new Russian territory, lies the Island of Saghalien, the northern half of which is now Russian, and the southern still Japanese. Posts of Cossacks are stationed in the Russian portion of the island in order to control the inhabitants. The object of a late visit of the Governor of Siberia to Yedo was to negotiate the cession to Russia of the southern part of Saghalien, the possession of which is considered |