The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-15 00:00:00

TRADE WITH CHINA.

The advisability of improving our communications with
China is just now being actively discussed, and, in the
present depression of trade, it deserves attention. If a
direct overland commercial route could be opened from
Rangoon to China, the development of our trade with
Western China would be greatly facilitated. There is a
vast tract of country to the West, of which very little is
yet known by either our merchants or our politician!.
Yunan and Szeehuen are the two largest provinces, and
there are four others near them which make up a collec
tire area of 551,000 square miles, having a population
which, twenty years ago, amounted to little nuclei
100,000,000. Du Halde states that these six western pro•
vinces contain 61 cities of the first order and 367 of the neon('
order. It is manifest that a region of such extent affords
space for an almost indefinite extension of commerce, anc'
our merchants arc beginning accordingly to chew some
anxiety to obtain an easy access to Kiang Hung. Kiang
Hung is seated on the Upper Cambodian river, which h
there navigable, and is only 250 miles distant from th•
frontier of British Burmah. The French, who have a
greater distance to traverse from Saigon, have pushee
their way up the Cambodia river,and passed throughYunan,
on whose southwest frontier Kiang Hung is situated.
Some interesting particulars respecting Western China have
been given by the Rev. Mr. Crofton, the Government chap
lain at Rangoon, who visited the Burmese capital on the
conclusion of the recent treaty. "It Las now been esta•
Unshed to a certainty," says Mr. Crofton, " that the
western provii,Jes of China which border on Burmah and
its tributary States are among the richest and most pro
ductive of that wonderful country." The Shan States,
which are little more than 200 miles from Rangoon, are
(he adds) rich in natural resources, and inhabited by a
numerous population, almost as industrious and fond o,
trade as the Chinese.

AMERICAN AFFAIRS.

(From the Anglo-American Times•)
NEW Yomc, Aug. 28.

I cannot tell what the comments are of our press
on the race run yesterday on the Thames between
the Oxford and liarvald crews ;, but the result
was s,cretly in the minds of most Then discounted.
We know how to speak brave wordg, and the late
news fro n your side tended to encourage our hopes
of victory for the boys from Harvard, but the
betting was in favour of Oxford, although in a few
instances even sums may have been laid. The tele.
gram reached about half-past one p.m., and was
known almost immediately over the city—l maysay,

throughout the country. Preparations had been
made to salute the glad tidings of victory with 100
guns to be fuel in the Park, but we have reserved
our ammunition for another occasion, and that
waste of powder has thus been spared our heavily
taxed citizens. But if our disappointment was
something, you may imagine how sorely the defeat
was felt at Boston, where great preparations had
been made to improve the occasion. Perhaps there
is improvement after all in such occasions, when
those that had come to shout greetings for a triumph
should turn in silent disappointment mournfully
to pursue their way back. Boston was more in-
terested than any other spot in America, and
the pride of its Cambridge University in beating
England's great and ancient College would have
known no bounds. Need I add that there is balm
in Gilead for the rest of America from this fact—
such is the perversity of human nature, which ex-
tracts a pleasure from the misfortunes of friends.
When Boston receives a slap on the face which is
heard in New York, New York laughs aloud, the
smart there, tickles here, and vice versa ; nay, I will
go further, and maintain that in no small portion of
the Union, the balance is of pleasure over pain at a
New England defeat, though it he an American de-
feat by foreigners. We have not arrived at the
stage of unity which appears to be one of the
planks upon which you so often hold forth. There
was a good deal of betting on the event, as Wall-
street is ready to back any conceivable event, and
the late telegrams and letters from England in-
spired confidence. An office was opened in Wall-
street for arranging bets by cable, on either side of
the Atlantic ; indeed I have reason to know that the
Harvard crew thought their chances decidedly good,
and some money had been remitted from this city
just before the race, to take advantage of the heavy
odds offered in England. A Wall-street speculator

has as little objection to make his book on a boat
race as on a " corner," and if be could bet three
to two on Oxford against Ilarvard here, and could
get two to one in England, of course the event to

I TI 4.40 w avctu,ntJ wry fay. am., 46... cra-it,
provided all bets were paid, about which the
fear here' is lessened by paying the sum to a
stakeholder when the bet is made—a good check,
too, on speculation. The wish is generally ex-
pressed that the Oxford men should visit this
country next year, and try a match in American
style on American waters, and I hope this may
be done, as your correspondent in that case
will be furnished with something to write about,
the want of which he feels during these dull times
here. The frequenters of the English alehouses in
Bleecker andllouston-streets,pocket some money,as
they freely backed their countrymen, as did English-
men generally in New York, taking a livelier inte-
rest in the result even than our citizens. Our Mayor
had his big gun ready to celebrate the event, of which
he made sure ; but some one damped his confidence a
trifle by proposing that it should be banded over to
the English residents to announce the fact if they
won. He has received a semi-official notification
that Prince Arthur will visit New York some time
in the autumn. The City of Paris made the finest
trip on record, with the Prince on board. Young
Arthurpresented Captain Kennedy with a handsome
pin having the Royal monogram on it. I hope the
Fenians will behrive themselves properly when the
Pi ince does visit our city. They had a pic-nic last
Tuesday in Jones Woods, and they certainly are
very tenacious in keeping together as long as their
Treasury lasts and whisky can be supplied. The
Fenian Congress reassembled on Thursday, and
received the annual report of Mr. John Savage,
who congratulated the meeting on being able to
keep so vast an organization together, which he
acknowledged to be a difficult task in the face
of much enmity. They ought also to be thank-
ful, he thought, that the spirit of insurrection was
still strong, and though the failure of the attempts