The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-01 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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LONDON, MONDAY, AUG 118 7 1.

WIIP.N VOLTAIRE and the French Eneyciop.•dists ;
held up China as a model State, they little thought
that events might occur which would introduce China
ma a great agent in permeating the East with that I
religion which the French Deist and his cot/ob./Wears
were labouring to destroy. It is now beyond doubt
that the insurrection in China, which at first ap-
peered to Europeans merely a rebellion of the
native Chinese against their governors the
Tartars, has all the character of a war of religion.
Still more remarkable is the fact that the tenets of
the adherents of the new faith seem peculiarly icono-
clastic. They seem directed against all idolatrous
observances. Were there large Roman Catholic in-
stitutions to attack, the insurgent Chinese might be
looked upon as the Protestants of the East.
But they seem to be proceeding on their
course without having the knowledge of any
other disisions in the religious world than them-
melees, and the idolaters who oppose them. They
are making their way with stern determination
and irresistible force, sword in one hand and Bible in
the other. They hold up their doctrines as unim-
peachable truth, and profess themselves ready to
defend them to the uttermost. The Overland Mail
brings a curious and interesting translation of " The
book of religious precepts of the Thee Pong Dy-
nasty," which for the first time puts us in possession
of a concise account of the religion possessed by theee
native insurrectionists against the oppressions of the

Tartar Dynasty. It is sery peculiar also that this
book, which seems to be a thoroughly Oriental docu-
ment, and bears but little evidence of any admixture
or occidental Christianity, still recognises most of
the truths held by Jews and Christians of
the present day. The collection of prayers
Which it contains refers perpetually to the
Saviour CllitlST as the "Redeemer from our
sin." The tea eommandments aro enunciated
almost literally after the Jewish text, although sub-
mitted to curious and original explanations. The
most remarkable evidence, however, of the nature
of the insurrection is contained in one of the docu-
ments published by the insurgents, in which a brief
account of the principal events of the Jewish and
Christian dispensation■ is followed by an assump-
tion of something like a divine mission by
the chief of the insurrection. It is difficult,
in the obscurities of a translation, to determine
whether the head of the rebels claims divine powers,
as a new incarnation of the Divinity or not. One
thing is certain. The chief appeals to a large
public, and one which, from its universal sympathy
with him, can scarcely be supposed to bo unac-
quainted with some of the events to which he refers.
Something no less certain is the remarkable success
which has hitherto attended the progress of the revo-
lutionists—a success which can scarcely be attributed
to anything elm but religious seal.
There seems great probability that, in the face of a
movement which has for its animating principles
nationality and a religious principle, the Tartars
may not be long able to hold their own. Under
these circumstances, the visit which Sir G. Box-
nay, in the Hermes, paid to the insurrectionist chief
to announce and explain the neutrality of the
British Government, seems to have been dictated no
less by the policy we long since hoped to
eft pursued, than by good feeling. It is im-
possible to say what irfluence the Chinese insurrec-
tion if it establishes and legitimates Itself may have
upon the destinies of the East. To find that veins
of Christianity pervade the apparently unproductive
fields of Chinese society, may turn out to be as im-
portant a discovery as that of Australian or Califor-
nian' gold. In spite of the material and moral
and legal walls by which the " Celestial "
government has hitherto endeavoured to keep
the Chinese within the. geographical boundaries of
the land, China appears to be one of the great emi-
grating countries. The nations of the East abound
with Chinese emigrants. They are energetic and
enterprising. They are deluging California, and are
proceeding in shoals to Australia. What may we
expect from such a nation, if their natural
energies are left free to develop them•
selves, aided by Christianity and liberal insti-
tutions ? The insurgents have received the
Eugliah as brothers. They are evidently willing
to meet us upon different terms to those which
were endeavested to be enforced by the Tartan
dynasty. The istmesurie with China, whisk lees
hitherto been confined to theism-ports, may Uwe-
forth, if the ineurgenb alsere/d sussed and their
religious efforts be successful, be carried into the
interior. The most extensive Empire in the world,
hitherto almost hermetically sealed against
European influences, may be opened to Eng-
lish enterprise. It is impemdble to calculate
the wonderful effect that this may have upon the
civilisation of the East. All other nests of modern
times in that quarter of the world sink to small
dimensions when compared with the possible effects
of a successful insurrection in China inaugu-
rating the dissemination of Christianity there.
It may open the whole East to the in-
telligence, and activity, and culture of the
West. It must afford opportunities and outlets
for European energy—must give such a development
to the commeree °revery trading nation as must tend
to complete the circle of enlightenment and union
which was begun by Cotemaus when he first set
sail from the West to discover the road to the East,
and which, although at first interrupted but after-
wards furthered by America, will bo now closed by
the adhesion of the very element in the chain which
appeared to oppose itself most obstinately to a
thorough union.

Sown of the latest news contained in the Organ of
the Absolute Governments is " that nothing is so
much wanting in Russia just now u money; and the
many discreditable stories, which in lormer times
were hushed up before they got well before the
European public, of strong State bands having been
laid on trust moneys and charitable funds, and bank-
ing depnsits, to meet pressing emergencies, are being
brought again into circulation, and serve as food for
apprehension for the future." A new instance of the
rapacity, and something worse, of the Russian
dials is given in the last number of the Quarkili
.Reriew. It is there stated that the only way in
which' NicnoLns, who believes himself the single
honest man in his dominions, can km p any kind of
order is to make journeys at full gallop, at the risk of
his neck, coming on the officials before they have time
to ide the proofs of their deiinquency. The Ea PE BOR, it
is said,had received information that tLe naval stores
at the arsenal at Cronstadt (like the water in the
fountains at Charing•cross, or the army at AsiLtv'e)
were carried in at one gate, entered by a clerk,
taken out by a sideway, and brought in and entered

again—each entry of course being charged to the
Treasury, with the full market price of the article.
Determiued to catch the culprits Awn-into deliao,
the steam of the imperial yacht was ordered to be
got up forthwith ; the great man in person embarked
—but just as he was nearing the port, a column of
smoke was seen to rise from the Dockyard ; and in a
few minutes all evidence of guilt was destroyed by
the fire.

But what can be expected of a people who unite
the vices of savege with those of civilised life—who
have been stopped by the strong arm of an Imperial
despot in their career of cattle•grazing and corn•
growing, and forced to become manufacturers, while
they want materials and skill ; whose thirst for gold
quals that of the meanest it w,whilst their power ofgra-
tifying it is annihilated by Imperial legislation. With
a population of 62 millions, this great empire, a cen-
tury and a half after the foundation of St. Petersburg
and the establishment by the Imperial power of all
kinds of manufactures, has less traffic than Liverpool
or London.

According to Mr. *GREGOR'S statement, levee-
twelfths of all tha exports of Russia come to
England, the value of which is 6,977,396/., and the
total value of the exports is 11,866,2531., so that
only 4,888,837/. are exported to other countries.
Mr. APOREoox's statement is below the truth, for
other authorities—Gorman and English—agree in

estimating the exports at 13,300,000 L, and the im-
ports at about an equal sum. The 62 millions of
Russiaus,thercfore, giving them credit for the larger
sum, have only about one-sixth as much trade as the
2 millions of English. They have not only com-
paratively little trade, but that little dots not in-
crease. We are quite sure that exports must always
keep pace with imports; and all authorities agree
in Mr. 11Pl3ayooes statement, that the bulk of the
Russian exports are to England. If the Russian
trade increased, therefore our exports to Russia, or
the imports of Russia from England, would incresee,
But our own Parliamentary returns, which are much
more to be relied on than statistics got up to make a
show to the Faertaort, state that the value of our
exports to Russia has been for many years almost
stationary. The average declared value was:—

Between 1831.3
and
Between 1849.61

So that our trade with Russia, which is a fair
index to the whole trade of that empire, has been
absolutely stationary for twenty years. That the
trade of Russia does not increase, may be shown,
too, by the accounts published of the shipping which
entered its ports. It was as follows :

Entered towards Entered outwards.
1810

1343
1846
1847

ISIB
4,401

These returns differ somewhat, we are aware,
from the accounts published by our Government in
the Appendix to the tables of population, revenue,
&c., for 1848, which show a greater, though not a
steady, increase in shipping. Both returns epee in
representing the great increase in the shipping to
have taken place in 1817 ; and if we abstract that year
from the comparison—a year of dearth in the
rest of Europe, when an immense number of ships
went in ballast to Russia, and immense quantities of
corn were exported from Russia, unequalled since,
the increase in the shipping of Russia in the eight
years is trifling. The total entered iowarda and
outwards in 1840 was 10,255, and in 1848 it was
10,598. Of this shipping a small portion only was
Russian, and the rest foreign.
In 1840, of the 5,113 ships entered inwards, only
810 were Russian; the rest were foreign, &eluding
1,633 English. Of those entered outwards, only
779 were Russian and 1,677 Earlish. In the other
four years quoted, Mr. Ketatocn informs us.
without stating the proportions, that the greater part I
were English, Swedish, and Dutch vessels. He
states, too, "that few Russian merchants engage in
foreign trade. It is carried on principally in foreign
bottoms, of which by far the largest proportion are
English." These facts refer to a short time beck, but
circumstances have only altered in favour of Russia by
the abolition of oar Navigation Law, which has pro-
bably increased her shipping in a slight degree.
She is no longer the first great source whence we get
a supply of corn. We bring it now from all the
countries of the world, and they share with her the
advantages ore trade which the sliding scale adapted
to her peculiarities. Our Free Trade may have
augmented the trade of Russia, for it extends our
trade with all countries; but even with that aug.
mentation the trade of Russia is neither increasing
nor prosperous.

Runic imposes, Mr. *GREGOR states, numerous
restrictions and prohibitions on trade by land, as
well as on trade by *a. Her trade with Chins she
has encouraged as much as her system would permit,
Mr. *Gams puts down the whole amount of the
exports in that direction at 398,4261. Other autho-
rities rate it much higher, and we, therefore, dwell
not on her statement; but the total exports already
mentioned distinctly prove that the total trade land-
wards of Russia is of little importance. Except on
the side of Germany, she is surrounded by nations
in the same semi-barbarous condition as herself, and
with them she can have no extensive trade.

A country with little trade, and that little not in-
creasing, implies weakness, not strength. Whatever
might have been the ease in antiquity, in modern
times nations grow in wealth and power more by
arts of industry than by conquest and the sword.
Extensive trade is synonymous with numerous ex-
changes; it implies minute division of labour, great
individual skill, abundance of wealth, and compara-
tively easy methods of acquiring it. Wherever it
exists, a comparatively small number of persons are
engaged in producing the necessaries of life; and for
any protracted contest a great many of them, and a
large portion of their resources, are available. But
wherever there is little trade the bulk of the
' people are assiduously engaged in tilling
the soil for a bare subsistence. They may
leave ono country for another, but a great
many of them cannot he spared, and they have no
resources available for • protracted mutest abroad.
Hence the Russian commissariat is always defective
and speedily exhausted ; and Russia, impregnable
perhaps at home, is unable to continue a war beyond
her own frontiers without foreign assistance, or
unless the country she may seize can be made to
support their icvadert.

The NUM eiresaistanees afford an explanation of
the immorality of her officials. From the example
of their EMPEROR, from their own rank in life, and
from the general manners of the nobility, the officials
have the tastes, and to some extent the expensive
habits, of the west of Europe. But their country,
being without trade and its revenue very small,
cannot pay them sufficiently to gratify their tastes,
and so the factiti rue civilisation of the upper classes.
induced by the imperial power, conjoined with
general poverty, begets the system of official plun-
der universal in Russia. The EMPEROR, not seeing
his Empire increase in wealth by peaceful arts, looks
to invading and plundering his neighbours; and his
servants, being in similar straits, defraud the treasury,
A nation so poor and so little progressive, with such
a demoralised ar.d depraved administration, whose
people cannot have confidence in one another, can
have no continued terror to the civilised people
of Europe. In machinery and skill these possess
power and resources almost immeasurably great in '