The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-08 00:00:00

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The Flying fish was at Lagos on the 28th of April-eirt '
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THE TRADE OF THE BLACK. SEAIr--,- •
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(From the Semaphore de Marseilles. f(7 ':•:-r"---._____:_,:-..,''' ' 4
The treaty of Kainardji, concluded between. Rajsej4:--- - :=3-
and Turkey towards the close of the -last . centucls' . gi rg-kt
opened to Europeans the navigation of the " Mira' ""-A-LV Sea, from which they had been excluded during
upwards of three hundred years. On the 21st of
July, 1774, the prohibition to enter the Bosphorus
was raised, and our vessels were -at last permitted to
penetrate into that sea which no European had navi-
gated since the expulsion of the Genoese, who remained
masters until the 15th century of the principal harbours
of the Crimea.
The Empress Catherine 11. cast her eyes with corn •
placency on a country which, after six consecutive
campaigns, had been at last united to her extensive do-
minions, and she resolved to found on its shores a number
of commercial and military establishments. One of the
largest rivers of Russia, the Dnieper, empties itself
into the Black Sea ; her attention was directed to it,
and, in 1778, General Hannibal laid, by her orders, the
foundation of the town of Kherson. In 1783, a French-
man, who was recompensed by the grant of letters of
nobility, established there the first commercial house,
and undertook to supply the arsenal of Toulon with the
flax and timber which descended the Dnieper.
The partition of Poland gave a new direction to the
commercial ideas of Catherine 11. She perceived the
necessity of possessing more to the westward, on the
coast of the Black Sea, a harbour for the exportation of
the agricultural productions of the palatinates of Bruslaw,,
Podolia, Wolhynia, and other provinces recently incor-
porated with the Russian empire. She accordingly
determined on the foundation of Odessa, IN hick took
place in 1796. The fault committed at Kherson, the
development of which was arrested by the exigencies
of the Russian system of Customs, was avoided at
Odessa by the Emperor Alexander. In 1803 that
prince reduced by one fourth the import and
export duties established by the general tariff
in all the harbours of the Black Sea. In 1804 he
decreed the opening at Odessa of an entrepOt for goods
irsoorted by sea, the introduction of which was per-•
mitted in Russia, and where they were permitted to re-
main during eighteen months without having any Qua-
torn duties or storcage, until they should be sold, and on
the point of being forwarded to the interior of the em-
pire. This favour was the more important, as the duties
being considerable, the merchants in order to satisfy the-
deraand must have parted with a large portion of their
eapital,
By an ukase of the same year (March 5), it was pro-
vided that all foreign goods the importation of which
was permitted at Odessa, and those transported thither
from other towns of Russia, should be allowed to pass.
in tro4seta, free of all charge, for Moldavia and Walla-
chia, through the Custom-offices of Mohilew and Don-
bassaa; for Austria, through that of Radzilow ; for :Russia,
throrigh that of Kezinsky ; and that foreign goods sent
to Odessa by those four Custom•offices should enjoy a.
free transit by sea. Those liberal institutions, dictated
by an eminently enlightened spirit,contributed greatly to
the prosperity of Odessa, which soon attracted the atten-
tion of the commercial world. Odessa became, under ttie
wise administration of the Duke de Richelieu, one oi the
most flourishing cities of Eastern Europe. At the same
time that a Frenchman could justly claim the honour of
being the real founder of that city, anotker Frenchman.
M. d'Anthoine, of Marseilles, directedby his example
and writings the attention of his
countrymen to the im,
portance atilt) extensive t:.-ade of which that city was
beooming the centre.
.ti. griculture, throughout Europe,
having suffered
was the 'Luring the wars of the empire, Odessa,
granary of the countries where scarcity pre-
vailed.,
But the spirit of wisdom which had produced that
state of prosperity did not long preside over the councils
of Russia. Beguiled by the fortune of Odessa, she sacri-
ficed it to a desire to increase the receipts of her cus-
toms. She imprudently adopted the prohibitive system,
the consequences of which are ever fatal, and laboured
with as much ardour to destroy the commercial pros-
perity of Southern Russia as she had displayed to
create it. In 1822, when it was least expected, an
ukase suppressed the freedom of the harbour of
Odessa, and compelled the merchants to pay import du-
ties on all the goods in the stores. Such a cry of alarm,
however, was raised, that the Emperor Alexander re-
! stored the freedom, but not to the extent it was origi-
nally enjoyed. The goods, on importation, were sub,
jetted to pay one-fifth of the duty required in other
Russian harbours, and on their removal to the interior
the four other fifths. The limits of the free harbour
were also considerably curtailed; two lines of customs
were formed, one round the harbour, and the other
round the city. Those lines still exist to the present
day.
Many other deplorable blows were levelled at the corn
coerce of Odessa. The freedom of the Caucasian provinces
was suddenly withdrawn, and the merchants, of Western
Asia, who were beginning to visit Odessa, on their wayto
the great fairs of Germany, proceeded thither by another
route. England, ever ready toavail herself of circumstances,
took advantage of the faults of Russia, opened commercial
relations with Trehizonde and her merchants, stopping at
no sacrifice, formed there an immense entrepot, whence
they soon exported the productions of their manufac-
tures to all the provinces of Asia, The trade of Tre-
bizonde now exceeds 50,000,000 f. (2,000,0001.), and it
communicates with Constantinople by two regular linea
of steam- packets.
The agricultural importance of Southern Russia is
suoh, that if the Government wished sincerely to adopt
a course of reform, it would soon restore matters to their
former footing, and give a new impulse to a trade which
was paralysed by insane measures.
In Southern Russia everything concurs in rendering
the productions of the soil as cheap as possible, so that
they can everywhere victoriously compete with those of
other countries. The land is extremely fertile, labour
costs very little, and the price of cattle is low. The
means of communicatissa unfortunately have been totally
neglected, for whi'els reason the price of corn, far from
diminishing; constantly increases, and the merchants
abstain from purchasing any, except in times of scarcity.
The wheat received at Odessa from Keshia, Wolhyma,
Utidolia, and Bessarabia, is conveyed thither in chariots
drawn by oxen. These journeys are long, for the
convoys cannot travel more than twenty miles per
day; and they are expensive, for the carriage of a chet-
wart, or two hectolitres, of wheat costs from four to six
roubles. Moreover, this mode of conveyance can only
be used from the month of May to the month of Septem-
ber, owing to the bad state of the roads during the seven
other months of the year. It results from this circum,
stance that wheat, however cheap it may be in the above
provinces, sells at Odessa at a comparatively high rate,
and foreign speculators do not derive from that trade a
sufficient profit to compensate them for the length of the
voyage to the Black Sea, the outlay of capital, and the
enormous expenses occasioned by the quarantines to
which several of those productions are liable.
It being difficult, on account of the nature of the soil
and the want of stones, to establish solid roads through
that part of Russia, the Government should devote itself
to the improvement of the navigation of the rivers Pruth,
Dniester, and Dnieper. Unfortunately, nothing in
Russia is properly followed up, and the works under-
takers to facilitate the navigation of these rivers have
hitherto proved unavailable. The price of corn, for all
these reasons, has constantly increased. In 1841 the
merchants were only able to offer the captains 2i franca
per load for Marseilles, and it is with difficulty the latter
can realise a trifling profit when they receive four.
Southern Russia is now threatened, in the Black Sea,
by a competition, becoming daily more formidable..
Thanks to the freedom and privileges they have derived
from the treaty of Adrianople, the Danubian principa-
lities have within the last ten years made immense pro-
gress. Galatz and Ibraila now ship a considerable.
quantity of grain to foreign countries, and, notvrithstand
ing the difficulty of ascending the Danube, the captains
prefer repairing to those harbours, on account of the,
facilities afforded by their administration, and the com-
mercial resources offered to importation. In 1839
e
Mar-
seilles purchased at Gawlahtizlsatndthlebrqautana upwards of 4,000dyhectolitres 9f wheat,
Odessa did not exceed 8,000.
The trade of Southern Russia is consequently yet), far,
from prospering. In 1839, the most productive year,
the customs duties produced in all only 8,215,421.
roubles. The different harbours, sit.
laate along an ex-
tent of coast of upwards of 40Q leagues, and the three
land Custom-offices, exportoil, on an average, only from
45,000,000 to 55,000,0 n, and imported about one-third
of that sum ' • whilst the single harbour of Trebizond
sends annually to the different adjoining countries up-
wards of 50,000,000 worth of English
faults into which
In noticing the manufactures.
the Russian Govern-
ment has fallen by following the fatal inspirations of the
Minister of Finance, Cankrin, we merely desired to.
give an additional proof of the dangerous results arising-
to a great empire from the adoption of the prohibitive
system, which invariably drains the sources of industry,
which it professes to render more abundant.

THE MAILS.—SouTuAmPToN, JULY 7. The Ori-
mita }chartered ship Duke of Cornwall, Captain Mills, arrived
at the Motherbank at four o'clock, A. 24., and landed the
Bombay mails of the Ist of June, which were forwarded to
London by the nine o'clock train. The mails were for-
warded frum Alexandria to Malta by the Iberia. The Corn-
wall left Malta June 25,, and Gibraltar Ist of July. She has
a very full cargo of goats' wool, silks, &c. ; also 104 pas-
sengers, principally soldiers, their wives and children. The
Achilles goes into dock to-morrow to undergo repairs pre-
vious to her leavingfor Constantinople and Trebizonde on the
3d of August. The Oriental Company's new ship Ariel takes
out the Indian and China mails on the 20th inst. The Gib-
raltar packet left to-day with the mails and 17 passengers.
The passengers by the Duke of Cornwall are expected to be
released from quarantine to-morrow. The Royal West India
mail packet Thames, Captain Haste, .will be ready for sea on
the 17th to take out the West India mails.
Colonel Sir William Robert Clayton, Bart., has left
town for Buckingham, to attend the assizes as High
Sheriff,
ELECTRIC TELEGRAPIL—Instances are constantly
occurring which demonstrate the utility of the electric
telegraphs. On Friday last a gentleman with his family
went to the station at Nottingham, and took tickets for the
half-past four o'clock train ; he offered in payment a 5/.
Brighton bank note, which Mr. Pettifer, a most active and
intelligent assistant to the station-master, at first felt a
little hesitation in taking, on account of the bank being
distant from Nottingham ; but at length he took it, and.
being in haste, as many persons were waiting for tickets, he
gave the gentleman 1/. 7s. 6d. in change, instead of 7s. Id.
In half an hour after the train had started he discovered
the mistake he had made, and instantly telegraphed to
Derby, requesting they would by telegraph inform the
station-master at Rugby of what had occurred. This
direction was attended to, and in three minutes after the
arrival of the train at Rugby, which was due there at five
minutes to seven, the news had reached Nottingham that the
sovereign had been received by Mr. Pigou at Rugby, and it
was returned to Nottingham the next morning.
Lord and Lady Charles Wellesley sustained a genre
bereavement yesterday by thuieath of the r eldest SI..