The Sun.
London, England, 1854-07-28 00:00:00

RUSSIAN FINANCES.

A French journal publishes an interesting article
on the financial situation of Russia, from which we
extract the following :
"The Russian Government, if kept for any time in
check, will be shortly placed in the alternative, either of
becoming bankrupt, or of bearing the weight of all the
individual disasters which its policy shalt have provoked.
And let it be well remarked, that the question is not of
a temporary embarrassment for Russia; the question is
of a war unprecedented for her with two great mari-
time powers ; of a war, which from the commencement
obliges her to keep up from seven to eight corps d'arineep
at three or four hundred leagues' distance from each
other, and to make an extraordinary levy of 500,000
men, all serfs, who have become free without any indem-
nity to their lords ; of a war, in short, which deprives
these same lords, the proprietors of the soil, not only of
their instruments of labour, but of the produce of their
work, in corn, flax, hemp, wool, tallow, timber, metals,
&c.

"The serf is estimated at an average value of I,ooof.
The levy of 500,000 serfs for the war is therefore equiva-
leht to a tax of 500 millions of francs laid on landed
capital The serf must, morever, be completely equipped
by his lord. Calculate the cost of this equipment at
oily 200 f. each, and you have a further tax of 100
millions.

" The returns of the Customs for 1852 state that the
exports of Rqssia by the Baltic and the Black Sea
amounted to more than 325 ruiilions of francs. The
presence of the combined fleets in those seas, therefore,..
without striking a blow, inflicts a loss on the fortune of
Russia of 325 millions.
" What a want of money will be. therefore, caused by
such a state of things in every family ; what perturba-
tion in every interest, and what a perspective for the
Impe, ial establishments in which are concentrated, In
the shape of deposits payable on demand, the greater
part of the savings of the country !
" If any one considers the contrast which exists, in a
financial and economical point of view between the Go-
vernment of St. Petersburg and those of France and
England, the difference is a marked one. How light
in comparison is the charge which would weigh on these
latter, in :lase the war should continue I In Russia, all
the productive resources have been paralysed, whereas
they have remained intact with the Czar's adversaries.
The capital absorbed in the struggle will be repro:
duced by the incessant activity of business in France and
England. Here, the ploughs turn up the soil, whilst
in Russia they remain inactive. Raw materials ar-
rive from abroad ito our manufactories and feed the
public treasury ; goods are exported with the same
facility ; institutions of credit are in full operation ;
railways are being completed; all the works of public
utility follow their course without impediment; it
depends even on the confidence of capitalists, and ,(312
the initiative of the public authorities both at Lone"'
and at Paris, togive them a more lively impulse; whereas
in Russia, neither the Government, absolute as it is, nor
public confidence, nor the fanaticism of the population can
diminish the absolute ruin of all men's fortune* or ward
off the crisis. Does not thi4 contrast suffice to show under
a new light the excellent strength of the position which
the Western Powers have assumed ? The Czar has
been caught in his own snare. Let us, then, persevere;
and independently of the military glory which we ought
to be eager to pursue, after having been sp long de'
prived of it. perseverance alone will ensure to us con-
siderable. advantages over the common enemy', He who
pretended at the commencement tp wear out our pa".
tierce by his diplomatic combinations will, before long,
feel the full weight of so unequal a struggle."