The Express.
London, England, 1858-08-31 00:00:00

SPORTMO INTELLIOIacaL

A SPECIAL. EDITION et' the 0, EXPRESS,"
sontsising the results of the day% Races, is pub-
lished every evening during tie Sporting Season, •t
ail o'clock.

A nocnaturr of a very extraordinary charmedly
appears ill the Constantinople journ►ls, received
yesterday, which, to a peat extent, corroborates the
communications we had previously received, to the

effect that the But.ren and his Ministers were in

earnest in their Mire to reform financial abases, and
arrest the ree.kiess extraveganoe which was ruining
the credit of the State. This document—a trans-
lation st whieh appears in another portion of our
columns—is a Ilatti Humaioon, or Imperial rescript,
announcing the fact of the SULTAN having learned
that, against his wishes, members of his family have
been exceeding their incomes, although they are en
• seals amply sufficient for their wants. Ile has given

orders that any infraction of his orders in that respect
shall be punished by the imprisonment of the parties
encouraging them in that extravagance; and lttz.►
PAsist is charged with examining the transactions
and debts now existing, and with the preparation of
a schedule of the debts, with a view to annul the
purchases or arrange for the payments. The Grand-
Mastership of the Artillery is at the same time ab-
sorbed into the Ministry of War, and into the new

Ministry of the Palace—the late Grand Master of
the Artillery being made a member of the Council
of Ministers. The most remarkable circumstance

about this arrangement is its being made public, an
avow►l of the existence of a public opinion in
Turkey, on the part of the SULTAN, for which we
were scarcely prepared. Private letter speak of
other material reforms in the Administration as

being in progress, which we have on previous occa-
sions alluded to, and which will shortly be announced.
Taken in connexion with these facts, we cannot
but look oa the negotiation of the new Turkish
Sir per Cent. Loan of Five Millions, rued by
Messrs. Itr.vr and Ca., in conjunction with the
Ottoman Bank, as an event of the highest finan-
cial and commercial importance. It possesses, more.
over, additional political value, from its being
raised, as it will b in England, at a moment
when every effort is being made to distort the
bombardment of Jeddah into a slight offered te
Turkey, and so increase the irritation of the fanatical
Mahommedans towards the foreign Christians. A
country that is h►bitually in financial difficulties in
always more aoansible to intrigues than another.
Evil counsels are often listened to, and acted upon—
under the pressure of argent necessities—when as-
companied by the argument of hard cash to stave et
present anxieties. Ventre affarnl n'a pas d'o►eafss
—" a hungry man has no tarsi" and though Innen
may go out and hang himself afterwards, the thirty
pieces in hard cash before his eyes are irresistible.
Looking to the objects towhich this loan is under-
taken to be applied by the contract, its beneficial
effect on commerce is self-evident. We have no
reason to doubt that the Turkish Government will
faithfully carry out its engagements; for, with all
its fault., financial dishonesty has never been laid to
its charge. Civilisation is perhaps hardly advanced
enough for that, and the Christian virtues of repu-
diation and drunkenness are left to the Western
States of Europe.

There can be little doubt that this loan will be
rapidly absorbed by the public, looking at the pre-
sent price of the foviner Sir per Cent. Loan,which is
now quoted at 94!, while the new loan is to be
issued at 83. As regards the security of the two
loans, the sew am possesses some advantages over
that previously hissed. The loan of 1834 was speci-
ally secured on the Egyptian tribute, amounting to
252,0001.; while for the payment of the new one,
both principal and interest, the Customs Duties and
Octroi of Constantinople, amounting to about
600,0001. per annum, are assigned to the bond-
holders. But the aperial advantage conceded in the
case of the new loan is this, that a Commission is to
be appointed for the receipt of those duties, two d
the members being Englishmen nominated by the
bondholders, and having an equal voice with the
other three, of whom the Minister of Finance is MIL
The concession of so important • point is a very,
hopeful augury for the course of reform in Constar
tinople. The BIILTAX had already sstaolished
Council of Credit, charged with the details of MIS
consolidation of the floating debt of Turkey, sad
several F.uropeans were members of that Council, ad
among them the two ixuntnissianers nominated by
the contractors of the new loan. Mr. FrheonWElN
the General Manager of the Ottoman Bank, is ass,
and Mr. 0. HANIION, of the well-known Constanti-
nople banking firm, the other; both of them men
whose financial experierce, and whose sound and
prudent views on financial subjects, have given them
great weight, both with the late Resenio PASHA,
and with the present Tinier, AALI PASHA. The
Minister of Finance has on more than one Oftilke
profited by the financial knowledge of these
gentlemen, and he bring a member of the new Com-
mission, we may hope that the reforms in the mode
of collecting the customs duties, and the abolition of
the wasteful system of farming the revenues, will
make some decided progress.
• But it is chiefly in a commercial point of view
that this new loan, if applied to the purposes pro-
posed, will be of incalculable benefit to Turkey, and
of no small advantage to England, whose trade with
that country is increasing. Many of our readers
are probably aware that the chief currency of Con-
stantinople is an inconvertible paper money, and
that the bulk of the metallic money in circulation is
a debased coinage. Now the notes (saint) are a
legal tender, and are the medium of all commercial
and exchange operations; but whenever specie is

scarce, from the demand for remittances to other
parts of the empire, or of Europe, the value of the
calm in relation to coin falls, and the exchange
rises. If the note were convertible into coin,
its value would of course be always at the
same level as that of the specie, and the fluctuations
111 exchange would arise only from the legitimate
demands

of commerce ; whereas we have seen it,
during the present year, fluctuate between 141
and 188 piastres in paper for the sovereign. It is
Blear that such a state of things must paralyse com-
merce. The shipper cannot tell whether the ex-
lamp may not rise enormously and tern his ven-
ture into a heavy low. Trade with Constantinople
has become a mere speculation, and has been very
limited in extent and character from that came.
With the note made convertible, and the currency
put upon a sound bisia, there is no doubt that a
great stimulus will be given to the trade of the
Turkish capital especially, where the existing evil is
most severely felt, and that the revenues of the
country will be directly benefited by it. It is
also believed the customs and tariff reforms,

recommended by the Commission of last year,
will now be carried into effect, being a part of
the currency scheme. As a first step in that direc-
tion, it was suggested that the gold Mejidit, which
is

the unit of value in Turkey in the same sense as
the sovereign is with us, should be everywhere taken
by the Customs' officials at its par value of
100 piastres only. The current value of this coin is

different in various parts of the Empire, that many

of the natives are not aware how many piastres it is
worth at par. At Constantinople, for instance, it is
worth about 156 piastres in paper—two months
back it was worth 146 piastres. In Smyrna, where
the paper money is not entrant, the liejidi6 is always
estimated at 108 piastres; at &rout it passes for
107; ; at DMILICUP, for 112; at Jerusalem, for another
rate ; at Aleppo, for •fifth; and so on. This variation
and uncertainty in the value of the gold Mejidie
has opened a wide door for frauds and dishonest
gains in the remittance of the revenue collected in
various parts of the Empire, by which the shrewd
Greeks have largely profited. As the reform now
about to be carried out by means of the new loan will
seriously interfere with their operations in that line,
we may look fur • determined opposition on their
pert, although fortunately it is little to be feared.
Their monopoly in the Fast received a fatal blow on the
day that Egglish capitalists turned their attention to
Turkey as a field for Banking and Exchange opera-
tions, and to their cost thej hive found that their
intrigues against the Bank of Egypt and the Otto-
also Sank have resulted in something very like

the gnawing of a file. We shall watch with interest
the mode in which the financial operations to be car-
ried out by this new loan are conducted, for we
feel convinced that it is a fair chance offered to
Turkey to establish a character for good faith, and
for a disposition to take its place among
European nations. If the I'orte avails itself of the
opportunity, it will be a clear gain to all; if it should
neglect it, the occasion can never offer itself again,
and Turkey will become what many believe it in-
evitably doomed to be—a mere sink of imbecility and
corruption. It is on an oecabion like the present
that our Ambassador, who is well capable of doing
so, can render a real service to Turkey, by aiding
the Ministers and the SULTAN by friendly advice
and encouragement, and by pointing out the ad-
vantages of the new position in the public opinion of
Europe that Turkey may now assume. The bene-
ficial result of following that advice will give us
more weight with the SULTAN and his people than
any intrigues to keep this or that Minister in power
In order to enable us to thwart the designs of the
representatives of other nations.

Tilr first intimation respecting the Chinese Treaties
—received cid St. Petersburg—was sufficiently
curt and vague. Some additional items of inform.
tion have since oozed out, but on the whole they have
only served to render our notions of what has been
dons a little more confused. The Russian version

of the story was published—here, in London—on
the 23rd inst. ; the French version was published
yesterday; but no English version has yet appeared.
Has no despatch been received from Lord ELGIN P
or is it merely that, in the absence of Lord MALX6II-
- those left in charge of the Foreign-office are
uncertain how much he might deem it expedient to
impart to the public, and wait for his return? Ac-
eneding to the Journal de St. Potersbourg, the Russian
Ambassador concluded a special Treaty with China
relating to the frontier of the Aisne, on the 28th of
May, and • general Treaty on the 13th of Inns.l
The American Ambassador subsequently concluded
a general Treaty with China—the date not known.
The French and English Treaties were signed some
days later, between the 19th of June—on whioh
day Baron Le Gitos wrote," The Treaties have all
"been concluded, and partly signed"--and the 27th,
the date of the Russian Ambassador's despatch. It
seems pretty certain, therefore, that the whole of the
Treaties have been sealed, signed, delivered, and
await only the ratification of the respective Govern-
ments.

As he as we can collect from the very imperfect
materials before us, the substance of these Treaties
is nearly u follows :—By the Treaties with France
and England, China has bound herself to pay oon-
siderable indemnities to these Powers. The Chinese
Government has, moreover, promised that the mur-
derer of the French missionary shall be punished,
and his punishment announced in the Gazette of
Pekin ; but whether this has been made a Treaty
stipulation does not appear. Russia has ob- '
tained from China, by the Treaty concluded on
the 28th of May, a cession of all the territory be-
tween the Amur and the former boundary line of
the two Empires. In other respects the Treaties
which China has concluded with all the four Powen
are identical. " Nearly the whole" of the Chinese
Empire is thrown open to commerce. The laws
against Christianity are to be abolished. Mission-
aries are t, be admitted " everywhere." " Diplomatic

" agents may reside toseporaray at Pekin:" A:Chinesa

Ambasiador is to be omit to Paris. Whether Lard
ELG t bee deemed it necessary or expedient to eti-
palate for a similar miaaion to Loudon we have yet
to learn.

This is the sum total of our knowledge; and it

Laves ample verge for uneasy questioning. "Diplo-
" matie agents may reside temporarily at Pekin.*
In other words, the Chinese Oovernment has only
conceded to the three Western Powers the privilege
of occasionally sending a special Minister to Pekin;
the privilege of maintaining a permanent Resident
1 Mission there—which boa long been enjoyed by

Russis—is still withheld. The Chinese Government,
in fact, hays only conceded the abstract principle
that Ambassadors may on certain occasions be
sent to Pekin; the question whether on any
special occasion it msy be necessary or ex-
pedient to send one, must in every case be made
a matter of previous negotiation. In other word.
the matter of direct communication with the Im-
perial Government—instead of with officials at the

outporte—stande apparently pretty nearly where it
did. Again, "Missionaries are to be Admitted
" everywhere." Bat will the Imperial Government
have the power to protect them? In every province
the local authorities and the predominant factions