The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-10-12 00:00:00

BETTER AND CHEAPER TEAS & SILKS

A CUP of good tea is a medium of innocent exhi-
laration which all can appreciate—for old ladies
are no longer allowed to boast of a monopoly in
that species of enjoyment. Moreover, the flowery
land which supplies us with the fragrant leaf, to
heighten our pleasure in sipping the stimulating
infusion, clothes our ladies with shining, rustling
silks. Any scheme by which we may improve
the quality of our teas and silks, while we facili-
tate an increase of the supply, and probably
cheapen the cost of both, must meet with a warm
reception from all classes of the community. Capt.
SHERARD OSBORN assures us that we have only
to will it, and the thing is done. Capt. SHERARD
OSBORN is pronounced to be a great and reliable
authority in these matters by those who profess to
know, and therefore his opinion ought to be worth
somethings As everybody knows, we are now,
and always have been, in the habit of sending
for our Chinese supplies to Shanghai and Canton,
in the east. Now it seems that the best teas
and silks come from the western part of the
Celestial Empire, consequently these commodities
have to be transported over thousands of miles to
reach our ships. Thus, if we could trade from
the western frontiers of China, we should not
only have a better chance of getting the finest
teas and silks at less cost, but we should save our
vessels a long and dangerous voyage in a perilous
sea. But how can we reach the inland boun-
daries of China on the west ? It seems the road
is open to us, almost without any difficulty what-
ever. The fact, therefore, we should think, only
requires to become more generally known to be
acted upon, so as to secure the advantages of better
and cheaper supplies, as well as a greatly more
secure trade and navigation.
In these critical times, when wars and rumours
of war fill every mind with apprehensions of
approaching calamities, it is especially important
to keep in view the measures required for the
protection of our commerce with China. To pro-'
tect and extend that valuable branch of our foreign
trade, we have entered upon a war which threatens
to cost us some six millions annually for two or
three years to come. But the difficulty of secur-
ing our traffic with China is not confined to the
Celestial Empire. In the event of England being
involved in a European war, or of any untoward
combination of maritime powers against us, our
Chinese trade is subjected to particular risks arising
from the peculiar navigation of the Eastern Seas,
which are thus explained by Captain SHERARD
OSBORN :
Between the Indian Ocean and the harbours of China
our merchant vessels are obliged, by coral reefs, by
narrow seas, straits, and channels, to confine their
tracks for thousands of miles to certain highways, to
sight certain points or islands, and in some cases to wait
actually for daylight to pass certain dangers. Now,
quite apart from risks of navigation'of which Lloyd's
and our insurance companies may tell, all these narrow
channels, points, reefs, &c., are places at which will
lurk the enemy's enterprising cruisers, with a certainty
that our rich argosies must come to their trap, and the
neutral ports of Batavia and Borneo, those of Manilla,
those of Cochin China and Siam, will be most con-
venient to place their prizes in until disposed of for the
benefit of the belligerent captor.
Assuming that there is practically no available
remedy for these evils, so long as we follow that
route, Captain OSBORN points out how some of
our vast trade with China may be diverted to a
safer channel, and one far less liable to capture
in time of war. His proposal is, to give every
facility and every encouragement to the develop-
ment of trade with Western China, direct from
the Bay of Bengal. The practicability of this
measure is demonstrated thus

I can vouch for one fact in China, that the farther
you go westward and towards the Bay of Bengal the
more the teas improve, and at Ilan-kow, in the heart of
China, the teas of greatest repute were those from Yun-
nan Province, a province close to our Burmese frontier,
and between which and Bhamoo I have reason to
believe there is, although the Foreign-office seems igno-
rant of it, a considerable trade with British subjects. I
have not my notes by me, but I think my memory
is sufficiently good to say that half a million ster-
is about the figure. I will state
ling annually
another fact for Mr. Hammond's information,—
that if he will look at the treaty of Tien-tsin, the
clauses of which we are paying £6,000,000 to
enforce—and not, I trust, to surrender—he will find
that all British subjects have a right to pass to and from
every town or village in Ckina for purposes of trade--
Esmok, wherever it may be, comes under that head, I
fancy—and, furthermore, that such traders shall have
the privilege of buying or selling, and of carrying out of
China, any produce or manufacture, paying lawful tolls
and fiscal dues upon the same.
A fleet of merchant ships leaving Rangoon laden with
Yun-nan tqas, or silks, will have the high seas open for
them to select a track upon all the way from the Irra-
waddy to the Scilly Isles ; and whenever they approach
such points as the Cape, Isle of France, or St. Helena,

a British fortress stands ready to protect them, and keep
off privateer and man•of--war.
The same authority believes that effectual
blockades and effectual convoy are at an end in
these days of steam-ship of war. On this subject
he says :
The fact is, in these days there is only one chance for
a commerce such as ours during war-time : it is to have
either strictly military posts at certain strategetical points,
so that our shipping may, in narrow seas, run from
one to the other ; or, otherwise, to place our emporiums
and commercial depots at points whence our traders
may have the wide ocean to range upon, and where
the fleetness of our clippers and the skill and seaman-
ship of our captains and officers of the mercantile marine
may have fair scope. Give them that, and I have little
fear for the issue. On that ground, and for that reason
I urge, that as east of Singapore we have no Malta, no
Gibraltar, and it appears to be decided that we shall not
have, it is our duty to do all in our power to encourage
a trade with China through our Indian possessions on
the east side of the Bay of Bengal.
Here, then, we have a scheme from the pen of
a distinguished naval officer of competent know-
ledge and experience, by adopting which we
may reach tcie best Chinese markets within two
or three hundred miles of our own territories.
We are offered perfect freedom of transit over
the intervening strip of Burmese ground, and
every encouragement to avail ourselves. of it.
In thus gaining a nearer access to the richest
and most productive regions of the Celestial
Empire we not only secure a better article and
save time and money, but we are relieved of all the
risks of entering the Eastern Seas, and, in a great
measure, of the dangers of war, as these might
affect our vast trade with China; and it is not
unworthy of noticing that in proportion as we
remove the temptations to successful warfare we
destroy the probabilities of war itself. By all
means, then, let us try this new channel for our
great and growing trade with China, by which
we may secure better and cheaper teas and silks,
and better customers in return, and those almost
at our own doors