The Press.
London, England, 1856-01-05 00:00:00

THE TURKISH LOAN.-THE FALL OF

E. A RS.
ON the 19th of last July her Majesty's Minis-
ters, by a majority of three, narrowly escaped
a defeat on the Tu• lash Loan question. On
that occasion Mr. DISRAELI denounced the
scheme as a " delusion, a mockery, and a
snare." On the same occasion the Govern-
ment organs commenced a series of the most
virulent attacks upon the Opposition for the
part they had conscientiously taken in resist-
ing this loan, and charged them with " a deli-
" berate conspiracy concocted with Messrs.
" BRIGHT and GLADSTONE to upset the Minis-
" try." Nay more, the late Sir WILLIAM
MOLESWORTH having become Colonial Secre-
tary, did not scruple, on the Southwark hust-
ings, personally to assail and to vilify all those
(some his late colleagues) who had taken part
in the opposition to the Turkish Loan, stigma-
tising them, amongst other epithets of oppro-
brium, with being " friends of Russia," &e. So
much for the facts of July and August last ;
now for those of November and December.
The Turkish Loan of five millions was voted
in the former months, and it was especially
designated as being for the purpose of enabling
Turkey to take the field with so large a force
as should effectually protect her Asiatic and
other outlying provinces. What resulted in
the latter months ? At the present moment
the five millions in question have been thus
disposed of. Two and a half millions remain

perdu in the Bank of England (doubtless
to regulate our home balances) ; 500,0001.
have been transferred through the hands of
Messrs. BARING to those of Messrs. Burns-
CHILD, with whom it now remains ; and the first
instalment (amounting to half a million only)
of this Turkish Loan, so urgently demanded
on the 19th of July last, was paid to the
Turkish Government on the 10th of December
just past, twelve days after Kars had capitulated
from want of those reinforcements which it would
have supplied, and, we were told, it was express! y
intended to supply. Now, we ask any candid
reader to put these facts together, and say
whether Kars was not, on the part of the
British Government, deliberately suffered to
fall a prey to Russia? How happens it that
the Ministry, having the power to raise within
a specific period five millions sterling, and
five hundred thousand pounds of that amount
at once, did not employ one shilling of it to
the succour of the most important fortress in
the Turkish empire ? Be it remembered. too,
that this Turkish money was not to be raised
by taxes on the nation, which it might require
time to collect and to apply ; it was to be
raised by a loan from the capitalists of Lon-
don, who would have arranged to make their
payments at any time which might have been
stipulated. If, therefore, the money was
wanted for anything beyond a juggle, it
was wanted for the equipment of au army to
save Asiatic Turkey from Russian dominion ;
yet not one penny of it was paid to Turkey
till twelve days after the capitulation of its
most important fortress to victorious Rus-
sia, a catastrophe brought on solely by the
want of a relieving army which that loan
would h ave supplied. Who can say, after this,
that the Turkish Loan project of the 19th of
July last was not a " delusion, a mockery,
" and a snare?"

THE EFFECT OF LAND CARRIAGE UPON
RUSSIAN TRADE.
IN the Hull Trade Report for 1855, published under
the authority of a committee appointed by the Hull
Chamber of Commerce and Shipping, we find the
following observations :
On taking a retrospect for the past year of the trade of
this port, which, it is well known, is largely concerned
with the North of Europe, it does not appear that the busi-
ness has been so much limited by the war with Russia as
might have been reasonably anticipated, although it must
be remarked that no port in the kingdom has suffered so
much from the interruption of business with that country.
The principal imports from Russia previous to the war
consisted of hem, flax, iron, tallow, linseed, hides, wool,
tar, and deals, wtth large quantities of wheat and oats,
when prices in this country were such as to induce a trade
in grain. The frontiers of Prussia being open for the
transport of goods to and from Russia, it appears that the
articles of flax, hemp, tallow, and linseed, to some extent,
have been able to bear the heavy land-carriage charges for
shipment from Memel and Konigsberg, so that the impor-
tation of these articles (linseed excepted) has been kept
fully adequate to the consumptioa of this district. With a
continuance of the war there seems no probability of a
want being felt for• these articles, as with increased expe-
rience the arras ge nents for the land transport will be
more maturely if cued; and this expense of carriage is
not so injurious, on the whole, to Russia as was expected—
that on their exports being greatly paid by the enhanced
prices in this c.)untry, while their imports, as being much
more limited in quantity, obtain the benefit of back car-
riage, which, being in considerable supply, can be fur-
nished at much reduced rates. A large portion of this
land carriage goes into the hands of the Russian land-
owner. The land carriage on hemp, flax, and tallow,
from the St. Petersbu.g district to Memel, is undet-
stood to be about 101 to 121. per ton, while return
goods are taken at much lower rates; thus the lower
values bear the heaviest charge. As with the trans-
port of Russian articles ore the Prussian frontier, so
it has been by the coast of Sweden and the Gulf of
Bothnia. Previous and suesequent to the blockade of
the Finland ports considerable traffic has taken place be-
tween these two countries, and it is through this channel
we have received the Finland tar; while considerable im-
ports into Russia have thus been effected of colonial and
other produce

THE rate at whim' wave-, tray et ettriously exem-
plified in the case of the late earthquake at Simoda,
otT Japan, when the Russian frigate Diana was lcst.
Twelve hours and sixteen minutes after the gigantic
wave which destroyed her had receded ft r tl e !est
time, leaving the harbour dry, the same wave in an
infinitely diminished force reached the shores of San
Francisco, 4,800 miles distant. The curious pheno-
mena which the wave presented, suddenly rising
seven-tenths of a foot, and then receding, followed
by a series of seven other waves of less magnitude,
was remarked with great care at San Francisco, and
there is no doubt that it was the same wave that
that rose at Simoda.