The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-13 00:00:00

Greece, Russia, and Central Asia.

When the Foreign _office
of British Embassies and Legations to . furnish re-
ports on themanufactures,-offierequired e
commer the Secretaries
of
anSdecargricriilies-
ture " of the countries in Iv hich they reside," it was
mreagtairedesderasvieaen;but, innovation in the rules of the Diplo-
ambassadio of
urs a
formeres s for
timesm a manner,verein
thetil e
envoys and
habit of combining a good deal of information on
such subjects with the political and personal de-
tails they transmitted to their Governments.
Modern historians have very gladly extracted nume-
rous facts illustrating the social condition of Eng-
land in the 16th and 17th centuries from the letters
of French, Spanish, and Italian Ministers ; but in
our diplomatic correspondence of the last half cen-
tury we find few similar illustrations of the condi-
tion of foreign nations. Our representatives seemed
engrossed by one class of topics, and the official
style greatly assimilated their despatches, wherever
they might be written, to each other. It would be
very difficult to distinguish between a communica-
tion from Paris and another from Vienna by any
local colour
but ttahse nearlyietoismraeree and
agriculture thi-
possiblethgiver" it
any contained
of any country without revealing much
" contaaeineonn;t
of its social condition, we have, in fact, rather re-
verted to the ancient practice of diplomacy than esta-
blished an entirely new rule. We separate the com-
mercial and social facts from the political questions,
and give them with a fulness of detail possible
only in an age that has raised statistics to the rank
of a science. Indeed, the superabundance of mate-
rial sometimes injures the effect of the reports.
They require something at once less and more than
tables of figures. As an illustration of what we
mean, the reader will find the best reports in the
present collection are from the countries of
.ilaarlef-ovreireyntalized Greece, for in-
imperfect or are im-
Pwstohasniscichbel,tehisteoisnotadbiffttaiseitnrics indifferent to the accuracy of figures and
returns, which the nations of the West must have
supplied at any cost. In the East itself such close
reckonings are simply unknown ; yet the reports
that give the most distinct notions of the countries
they treat of are those from Greece and Russia, the
descriptions of the cotton manufacture in the latter
country leading on to details of the routes of com-
merce through Persia to Affghanistan.

The present is the eighth series of these papers
that have been laid before Parliament. It includes
a report, by Mr. West, on the population, taxation,
and agriculture of the kingdom of Italy ; by Mr.
Ward, on the finance of the Netherlands ; by Mr.

Lowther, on the trade and commerce of Prussia ; by.
Mr. Barrow, on the commerce of Belgium ; and
the sugar duties in connection with the beetroot ma-
nufacture of the article. In the great competition
between the native and foreign product it appears
that the beetroot sugar is getting the advantage of
the colonies and the sugarcane. It is also noted,
as one of the curious phenomena of the day, that a
sudden demand for Continental beetroot sugar has
grown up in England. Reports from Baden, Saxony,
and Wurtemberg complete the series.
The report of Mr. Rumbold, the Secretary of
Legation at Athens, is brief, but exceedingly sug-
gestive. Its few pages tell a story of national
decay that contrasts in the most striking manner
with the position the ancient history and lite-
rature of the country occupies in the estima-
tion of mankind. The present population of
Greece is little more than 1,000,000 ; of these
one - eighth belong to the class of agriculturists.
About 40,000 are put down as shepherds, which, Mr.
Rumbold says, argues little in favour of the material
development of the country. They are classed as
shepherds, but are well entitled to a much worse
name. " They roam at large in the trackless wilds
of the Morea and Continental Greece, and in times
of trouble furnish ready recruits to the bands of
brigands that disgrace the country." One of the
chief industrial pursuits of the people is office-hunt-
ing. The number of Government employe's is ex-
trnflrclirkary, and always. increasing. " The Go-
vernments which have succeeded each other since
the late revolution have in many instances doubled
and trebled the number of functionaries in various
offices. In 1861 there were 42,680 boys attending
school, and " few of these will arrive at man's
estate without putting forward claims to such Go-
vernment employment." The pressure may be about
commencing at the present time, and the Govern-
ment of King George has to sustain the onslaught
of these 40,000 candidates. As to some other con-
fusions we must quote the language of the Report
itself :

" The entire superficies of the kingdom is reckoned at
46,429,000 stremmata (21 stremmata are equal to an English
acre), or 55,429 square kilometres. No general cadastral
survey of the country has yet been attempted. The vine-
yards, olive grounds, currant plantations, &c., have alone,
to some extent, been measured out and valued. It is thus
impossible to know with any precision the cultivated area
of Greece. The clumsy machinery of the dime tax, or tax
of the tenth of the agricultural produce levied in kind,
alone affords some means of arriving at a conclusion on the
subject. Nothing can be more vague than the delimitation
of property in Greece. Landed proprietors themselves are
often at a loss to determine the limits or even the site of
their property. A case recently came under my notice
where the owner of a piece of waste land could not with
any certainty ascertain its position. All he knew was
that he was the owner of some ground situate between
the Pnyx and the Hill of Philopappus ; and an offer of
purchase macde to him by a friend of archasological
tastes, who wished to make excavations, fell to the ground
in consequence of the inability of the proprietor to
point out the exact spot. About one-third of the country
consists of mountains and rocks. One-fifth is covered with
forests, in which great havoc is yearly made by the wander-
ing shepherds, who ruthlessly set fire to the woods in order
to obtain more pasture-land for their flocks. Probably one-
half of the entire superficies of the soil is available for culti-
vation, and of this hardly half has been turned into account.
Yet with the climate and the richness of the soil the agri-
culture of Greece ought to thrive, while at present it is in
the rudest, most hopeless condition. In order to reclaim it
from its present state it will, above all, be necessary to alter
the system of taxation and to construct roads. As one of
the many instances of the bad effect of the want of commu-
nication it may be mentioned here that though the country
is in many parts rich in forests, one of the chief articles of
importation is timber for shipbuilding and other purposes."

As to the quantity of the produce of the soil, there
is the same doubt as in the question of the division
of the land. There are no means of ascertaining the
quantity of corn grown or the capabilities of Greece
for supporting its population. No official statements
are published by the Government. " Perhaps," Mr.
Rumbold says, " the system pursued towards agri-
culture is felt to be so various as not to admit of
open inquiry." All such investigations into the
production of Greece are stopped by the barbarous
land-tax, or dime, levied in kind. There is a Go-
vernment monopoly, bearing heavily on the whole
agricultural population, and putting a stop to any
attempt at improvement. Yet, financially speaking,
no tax can be more unsuccessful. The arrears of
payment on the dime alone have been accumulating
for the last 30 years, and now amount to 100,000,000
drachmas. The difference of the Greek cultivator
and the results are thus summed up :

" The agriculturist is being constantly undersold in the
market by the Government sales of grain ; the want of roads
so materially increases the cost of transport as to discourage
all attempts at selling the grain at any distance from the
place of production ; and it is a known fact that where
thee would be more than enough to feed the entire popu-
lation, foreign grain imported from the shores of the Black
Soa competes successfully with the native produce."
Yet there is nothing unfavourable in the climate to
account for the prevailing sterility. The soil has not
been exhausted, but merely left unworked. Labour
and the subsoil plough might yet regenerate the agri-
culture of Greece, as described in the following
passage :

"Notwithstanding the excessive dryness of the climate
and the torrid heat of summer, the soil when turned up and
only superficially raked as by the rude plough of the time of
Hesiod, to this day used by the Greek husbandman, is gene-
rally found to be most fertile. Aproprietor in Eubcea bought
some land which had been under cultivation, but had been
left fallow for some time previous to his purchase. Although
contiguous to his former property, and the soil being to all
appearance similar, the crops on his new acquisition were
much heavier, and yielded superior grain. When the causes
of this difference were inquired into it was found that the
former owner had cultivated madder or garance,' a plant
largely used for the dye of the nether habiliments of the far
famed fantasia of France, and which requires a far more
searching investigation of the soil than the superficial
scratches which constitute the furrows of Greek husbandry.
As in Eubcea, so in other parts of Greece. Even beneath
the desolate stony wastes of Attica in many places lies all
the wealth of a virgin soil. Remove but the hard sun-dried
surface, and a rich brown loam will turn up, at sight of
which the hearts of our English farmers would be glad-
dened. But nothing is done; no water is brought from the
neighbouring ranges of Parnes and Pentelicus to refresh it ;
no hand is raised to weed out the stones and cut down the
rank overgrowth of evergreens and brushwood ; and all the
year round the cold blasts from the north sweep over the
dreary plain, and the pitiless sun pours down its scorching
rays on a parched stony desert. The old myth of Duecalion
is forgotten indeed."
The effects of Turkish misrule and the ravages of
the War of Independence may still be traced. By
the destruction of the mulberry trees during that
struggle the production of silk was almost annihi-
lated. It has very slowly recovered. In the half
century that has elapsed since 1816 the quantity of
silk produced has increased only to the quantity ob-
tained in the last year of the Turkish Government,
or a little above it. On the other hand, the cultiva-
tion of the currant and tobacco is progressing. The
prospects of obtaining a supply of cotton from
Greece do not seem very hopeful.

The valuable report from Russia, drawn up by
Mr. Lumley, is limited to the cotton manufacture
in that country ; but it incidentally throws much
light on the condition of the class from which the
workmen are drawn. The manufacture itself is a
highly protected industry, and appears to require all
that protection to exist. It depends on the importa-
tion of English machinery, and the exclusion of
English yarn, but the employment of British skill
and supervision. With these aids it produces an
article from 35 to 60 per cent. dearer than the cot-
ton goods of European manufacture ; and notwith-
standing the almost prohibitive duties duties on the
importation of foreign fabrics, amounting on some
goods to 100 and 200 per cent. on the cost, they are
extensively imported. If the industry requires such
artificial fostering and yet cannot compete with the
foreign producer, why, it may be asked, should it
have been established, or be still kept up ? But it
has some results, not strictly commercial, that ap-
pear to compensate for the violation of the laws of
political economy. The reasons are explained in
the following passage:—
"Although Russia is essentially an agricultural country,
and in its true interests every effort ought to be made to
developo its productive powers in that sense, there are valid

reasons for the encouragement of manufactories in various
parts of the country. Some portions of this vast empire are
much less favoured as regards soil and climate than others.
There are Governments which contain from 3 to 17 acres
of arable land per head of the population, while in other
parts of Russia there is scarcely one acre per head of land
suited to cultivation. It is natural enough that in districts
where the soil fails the population should emigrate to seek
more fertile land or the means of employing its hands in
manufactories, and this happens even in some parts of
Russia where the land is most fertile, but where, from want
of roads or water communication, there are no means of; or
great difficulty in, disposing of the agricultural produce ;
while the landed proprietors, instead of laying out their
capital in improvements on the land which would only
give them a small return after considerable delay, seized
with avidity the chance of getting 10 per cent. or 12 per
cent. for their money byplacing it in a cotton mill or calico
manufactory. But there is another cause which stimulates
manufactories in Russia, and that is the severity of the
climate. In some of the northern districts field labour is
only possible during from 130 to 150 days in the course of
the year, and it may be imagined what a loss Russia would
sustain, if out of 65,000,000 of her European population,
50,000,000 remained unoccupied during six or eight months
of the winter, where all agricultural labour is at a standstill.''
As the severity of the climate so limits the annual
season of out-door labour some employment for
the Russian peasant during the rest of the year must
be found. Thus the 10,500 manufacturers of Russia
employ 200,000 of the class. But it does not be-
come so exclusively manufacturing as in other
countries. "It is the peasants who work in the
mills ; the peasants who carry on the chief part of
the commerce for the interior. The peasants, in
short do everything."
" This peculiarity of the climate has made manufacturing
industry a national want in Ift!Lny parts of Russia ; it is this,
that developed manufactures in the villages long before
they were established in the towns. There are villages, for
instance, in Russia in which all the peasants have been for
generations either weavers, tanners, shoemakers, lock-
smiths, cutlers, &c. The advantage of such village industry
is evident, for by this natural union of agriculture and
manufacture agriculture is not deprived of its hands, and
the peasant is not removed from his family. It has none of
the evils of manufacturing industry carried on in a large
scale in great towns and cities ; there is no agglomeration
of the labouring classes, no indigent poor, or what is termed
the prolotariat class."

But there is another side of the question, which
has also to be explained :

" Although, as has been shown, there are certain incen-
tives to the establishment of manufactories in Russia, the
disadvantages and obstacles to the progress of Russia as a
manufacturing country are more numerous and important ;
among these may be mentioned want of capital, a high rate
of interest, and the circumstance that spinners are com-
pelled to sell their yarn for bills of long date, from 12 to 18
months which with the high rate of discount weighs moro
heavily on the price of cotton twist than all the other in-
conveniences put together. To these must be added the
great distances and difficulties of transport and communi-
cation, the expense of mechanical, chemical, and other
agents for manufactures ; the high price of iron, of tools,
and of every description of mechanism ; the increasing ex-
pense of fuel, wood as well as coal, and the fact that inmany
cases the manufacturing establishments have been under-
taken by amateurs, noblemen of large property but without
the necessary knowledge, who have been obliged to employ
agents, highly paid, but in some cases not to be depended on.
This latter inconvenience, however, has been less felt since
the cotton and other factories have been taken up by com-
panies who have employed English overseers. A consider-
able loss is also occasioned by the circumstance that many
mills are obliged to cease work during the seasons of field
labour, an interruption which the millmasters can only
prevent by an increase of wages. In consequence of the
number of holidays, 15 or 17 is the minimum kept in the fac-
tories besides Sundays, the working year consists of only
294 days. Russia is also at a greater distance than other
cotton-spinning countries from the centre of trans-Atlantic
commerce. The navigation is of short duration in all the
northern ports of Russia, and nearly all the manufacturing
districts are far removed from the southern ports, conse-
quently Russian spinners have but little time to provide
themselves with the necessary stocks, and they are obliged
to do this on so largo a scale that a much greater amount of
capital is required - for advances than in other countries ;
add to this the risk of loss from a sudden fall in prices,
which may occur at a time when Russian spinners cannot
avail themselves of it. These are some of the natural and
unavoidable disadvantages arising from the employment of
a foreign raw material, brought from a great distance, and
obtained indirectly from an intermediate source."

Notwithstanding these disadvantages cotton mills
have been profitable speculations in Russia. During
the last 24 years they have paid dividends of about
11+ per cent. on the original shares. Many of the
Englishmen employed in these mills have no incon-
siderable share in the profits.of the business.
The description of the routine of a working day
in a Russian mill is interesting. The peasant work-
man is docile, and up to a certain point easily taught.
But beyond that point he never goes. His worst
qualities are drunkenness and an incorrigible love of
thieving. The discipline of a Russian factory is
therefore in some respects somewhat military.
Coming to work in the morning in a state of intoxi-
cation, nothing unusual, entails the loss of the day
and the wages of it, about 3s. English ; and all the
hands, male and female, are searched on leaving the
mill. This is a necessity, for the habit of pilfering is
so common among the lower classes, " that the
Russian peasant will carry off anything he can lay
his hands on, if it be not too hot or too heavy." The
following is a description of a scene in a factory that
has a peculiarly Russian and picturesque effect :

"Occasionally a deputation of the girls of a mill will
apply for permission to give the rooms an extra wash, as
they propose to ask the ' pope' to come and bless their
labour; such a request for extra cleanliness is, of course,
always complied with. Next day, when the mill looks its
best, and the engines and machines have received an extra
polish, the priest arrives and goes through the rooms,
chanting and sprinkling with holy water the looms, the
spindles, and every portion of the building. On one of these
occasions the manager asked the priest if he could not exer-
cise some wholesome influence over his flock so as to check
the habits of lying and pilfering to which they are so much
addicted. ' What can Ido ?' answered the priest ; you
cannot grow flowers on "

Here is another scene equally national :
" On Saturday the mill closes at noon, and remains closed
till Monday morning. In some factories the workpeople
are paid once a week, but in general they receive their
wages once or twice a month ; the former is by far the best
plan, as the workman has less temptation to squander his
earnings in drinking. As it is, few sober workmen are to be
found on Saturday evening; nor is this to be wondered at
when brandy is so cheap. The bottle of gin which in
England would cost 35., is here replaced by a bottle of much
stronger votki at 30 copecks, or less than is. ; a large wine-
glass of this liquor costs 3 copecks, about ld., and for 9
copecks, about 3d., a man can buy two gill glasses of strong
corn brandy, quite enough to make even a Russian peasant
drunk, if taken at once. It is on these half-holy and fete
days that the thoughtless, light-hearted, and good-natured
character of the Russian mujik' is seen ; some of the work-
men will be singing in groups, others incessantly embracing
each other, for the Russian peasant, who is never quarrel-
some in his cups, becomes both musical and affectionate
when intoxicated. Here the father of a family may be
seen reeling home, playing on the balalaika' (the rudest
form of guitar that ever was invented), attended by his wife
and children, in whose eyes his drunkenness is no shame,
the drunk, it may be, leading the drunk ; or one who is
helplessly inebriated being tenderly carried home by his
more sober comrades. Unfortunately, thebeneficialmeasure
adopted two years ago of abolishing the nefarious system of
brandy-farming, while it has substituted a wholesome liquor
for the poisonous liquor formerly sold as brandy has ren-
dered it so cheap that the poor peasant cannot withstand the
temptation of purchasing it. Drunkenness, it cannot be
doubted, is greatly on the increase among the lower classes
wherever it is not checked by their interests ; and the
supply of liquor would appear to be fully equal to the de-
mand, if ono may so judge by seeing for every cart con-
taining merchandise of any kind four or five carts convey-
ing casks of brandy in every direction. Some improve-
ment in this respect may, however, be shortly expected, as
the result of the late measures adopted by the Minister of
Finance, according to which the Excise duty on brandy is
to be raised 25 per cent., and the sum to be paid for licenses
to sell brandy, will be nearly doubled."
To sum up the account of the advantages Russia
derives from her cotton manufactories, the result
appears to be that a portion of the peasant class
finds employment, that the. shareholders make a
profit on their investments, and that the nation
loses 17,000,000 silver roubles every year, to keep
up the system. But • the last few years have not
been profitable to the proprietors. Many mills have
been stopped, others work on at a loss because
stoppage would be ruin. One firm is mentioned
which does nothing, at a cost of 50,000 roubles
a year. The mills are like sinking ships, but they
prefer to go down inch by inch.
The Report examines at considerable length the

At Cheltenham the Hon. Colonel Berkeley, M.P.,
will be opposed by Mr. Charles Schreiber, who has
issued an address to the electors. Mr. Schreiber is
opposed to a reduction of the franchise, and adopts
Mr. Disraeli's idea of " lateral" extension ; he is
opposed to the unconditional extension ; he is op-
posed to the unconditional abolition of church-rates,
and announces his intention to " resist all attacks
on the iro-efrr:l ^ :-.l..rendence of the Church of
England, and on frote,lant principles so inti-
aatzly connected with tholiberti€4v4ich We enjoy,"

MOSES AND SON'S
• HATS AND CAI'S,
for all c asses and all ages.