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

the Avon, surveying steamer, he is invalided. A mos
sad accident has happened on boart,
the Avon Messrs. Pennington and Winstanley, second Ina3Lea•' and assist-
ant-surveyors, were on shore surve ving h
river, when they were attacked by the nativ, es and killed
for the sake of the instruments. Cap 'Lain Denham is
now left with only one assistant to'get t.mroug, h his werk.
The Flying fish was at Lagos on the 28 th of April—all
well on board.

THE TRADE OF THE BLAB', K SEA.

(From the Semaphore de Marseilles.)
The treaty of Kainardji, concluded bqtweex Russia
and Turkey towards the close of the last , century,
opened to Europeans the navigation of the Black
Sea, from which they had been excluded during
upwards of three hundred years. Y' the '2l st of
July, 1774, the prohibition to enter the Bosph ors
was raised, and our vessels were at last permittet, to
penetrate into that sea which no European had nay
gated since the expulsion of the Genoese, who remaint‘
masters until the 15th century of the principal harboura,
of the Crimea.

The Empress Catherine 11. cast her eyes with com-
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 Dniept.'n
ion The partition of Poland gave a new direct: to the
commercial ideas of Catherine 11. She perce;ved the
necessity of possessing more to the westward, (.:n the
coast of the Black Sea, a harbour for the exportatioel of
the agricultural productions of the palatinates of Brush, vrs
Podolia, Wolhynia, and other provinces recently incos--
porated with the Russian empire. She accordingly
determined on the foundation of Odessa, which 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 is7o4 he
decreed the opening at Odessa of an entrepOt for goods
imported by sea, the introduction of which was
mitted in Russia, and where they were permitted to re..
main during eighteen months without having any Cus-
tom duties or storrage, 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
demand must have parted with a large portion of their
capital.
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 transitu, free of all charge, for Molclalia and Walla-
chia, through the Custom-offices of Mohilew and Dou-
bassaa; for Austria, through that of Radzilow; for Russia,
through that of Kezinslcy; 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 the
wise administration of the Duke de Richelieu, one of 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, another Frenchman.
M. d'Anthoine, of Marseilles, directed by his example
and writings the attention of his countrymen to the im-
portance of the extensive trade of which that city was
becoming the centre. Agriculture, throughout Europe,
having suffered during the wars of the empire, Odessa
was the granary of the countries where scarcity pre-
vailed. _ _ .

But the spirit of wisdom which bad produced that
state of prosperity di,l not long preside over the councils
of Russia. Beguiled by the fortune of Odessa, she sacri-
ficed it to a deiire to increase the receipts of her cus-
toms. She imprudently adopted the prohibitive system,
the consequences of which are ever fatal, and lab,-mred
with as much ardour to destroy the commercial p ros•
perity of Southern Russia as she bad displayed to
create it. In 1822, when it was least expected, a.n,
ukase suppressed the freedom of the harbour of..
Odcssa, 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-
jected 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 othei:'
round the city. Those lines still exist to the present
day.

Many other deplorable blows were levelled at the com-
merce 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 way to
the great fairs of Germany, proceeded thither by another
route. England, ever ready to avail herself of circumstances.
took advantage of the faults of Russia, opened commercial
relations with Trebizonle 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. (2,000,0000, and it
communicates with Constantinople by two regular lines
of steam-packets.
The agricultural importance of Southern Russia is
such, 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 communication unfortunately have hem! totally
neglected, for which reason the price of corn, to.r from
diminishing, constantly increases, and the merchants
abstain from purchasing any, except in times of scarciti•
The wheat received at Odessa from Keshia, Wolhynia'e
Podolia, 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-
wert, 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 s.
sufficient profit to compensate them for the length of tiva
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-
taken 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 24 francs
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 Ses,
by a competition, becoming daily more formidable.
Thanks to the freedom and privileges they have derived
fro n, thhaevetrenaittl:yearsthe made
eubian
immenseprincipa-
lities i of
the Adrianople,last ten
pro-
gress. Galatz and Ibraila now ship a considerable
quantity of grain to foreign countries, and, notvrithstand
irg 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 1539 Mar-
eilles purchased at Galatz and Ibraila upwards of 4,000
hectolitres of wheat, whilst the quantity supplied by
Odessa did not exceed 8,000.
The trade of Southern Russia is consequently very far
from prospering. In 1839, the most productive year,
the customs duties produced in all only 0,215,426.
roubles. The different harbours, situate along an ex-
tent of coast of upwards of 400 leagues, and the three
on an average, only from.
imported about one-third
41 land
odoCO3uos(t) Custom-offices, mt
0- 05fti5c70,00 exported,
d
of that sum ; whilst the single harbour of Trebizondl
sends annually to the different adjoining countries up-
' wards of 50,000,000 worth of English manufactures.
In noticing the faults into which the Russian Govern-
ment has fallen by following the fatal inspirations of the
Minister of Finance, Caul:6n, we merely deiired" to
give an additional proof of the dangerous results arising
to a great empire from the adoption of ON prohibitive
system, which invariably drains the sources of industry,
which it professes to render more abundant.

BOARD OF ADMIRALTY.—The following additional
appointments have been made :—Vice-Admiral Sir William
Parker, Rear-Admiral Deans Dundas, Captain the Hon. r.
Berkeley, Captain Lord Jehn Ilay, the Hon. Win. Cowper
ANECDOTE OF IBRAHIM DACHA AT MANCHESTER.—'
An amusing incident occurred when the Pacha was visiting
a glass manufactory in Manchester. In the centre of one
of the squares of the building stands a pump. Bound this
had congregated some twenty or thirty of the boys, some
with bowls, others with tin cans or jugs. Amid this group
suddenly came the Pacha. Astonishment seized the whole
of the juuiors, and was heightened by his taking from one
of them a jug, filling it with water from the pump, and
draining its contents to the very bottom; his example was
followed by his suite. Ibrahim Pacha is a Mahomedan, and,
as such, will not indulge in the use of wine. It is needless
to say, that the vessel from which they drank speedily rose
in value—could not be had at any money, and has been
canonised as a relic under the title of " Ibrahim Paella's jug."
OPERATION OF THE NEW CORN BILL.—The new
Corn-law Repeal Bill came into operation on Monday, and
since then about 75,000 quarters of wheat, 4,000 quarters of
oats, 3,000 (palters of barley, and 1,800 quarters of beans
have been taken out of bond. This is a greater quantity of
these descriptions of grain than was released in hull for a
period of twelve months. Yet there is no panic in our Corn-
market, nor are any fears entertained that prices will fall
much lower than they are at present. The market is dull,
but the causes of the dulness are not to be sought in any
superabundance of foreign corn. The best qualities of wheat
continue to maintain former Advertiser.
WEST INDIA. PINE APPLES. Yesterday there ass
a sale of 5,000 pine apples in Monument-yard, which realised
more moderate prices than those sold at the earliest part of
the season, and such as to place the luxury within the means
of moderate purchasers. They arrived generally :I very
good Wllditi9l], ill the Sabots, from New Fivvidesc