The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-22 00:00:00

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NEW S PAPER
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THE BRITISH ASSO /451,0ce
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RUSSIA AND CHI .
In the section of Geology and Et v,• iS
Michell read a paper on the Russian T to irt rt.
tral Asia, and

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Sir JOHN BOWRING said, as this paper hails:
partly reference to a country with which he had-
been associated for 10 or 11 years,' he would make
an observation or two on the Russian trade with
China. That trade was now about to undergo a
great change. It has flourished, as far as any trade
could flourish, under the baneful influence of mono-
poly. Whether from commercial, political, or other
motives he did not know, but in view of the great
prospective change alluded to, it was perhaps hot _
undesirable that the British merchant should anti-
cipate the state of things which was coming on in
consequence of the late treaties which Russia has
Made with China. It should be made known that
Russia, formerly having a monopoly of the inland
trade with China, was not permitted to carry on
commerce with what were called the five treaty
ports opened to British trade by Sir If. Pottinger.
Their trade was confined to a single locality in the
north-western part of China, and the whole of that
trade was in the hands of certain monopolists, who
enjoyed special privileges from the Russian Govern-
ment—enormously to the prejudice of the Chinese
people. It was important to remark that he (Sir I.)
found that Russian manufactures had made their
way peculiarly in China—there were many towns
in which he did not find any English woollens, in
which lie found there was a considerable sale for
the woollens of Muscovy. Now, the section knew
that the cost of woollens in Russia was much greater
than in 'Central Europe—Russia imposing duties,
some of them very elevated. How, then, was the
effect stated produced ? By an extraordinary ukase
of the Russian Emperor, who absolutely prohibited
the sale of Russian goods for Chinese money, or the
purchase of Chinese goods in silver, the only instru-
ment of exchange in China. Thus the whole trade
was carried on by a system of barter. Therefore, all
that the monopolist had to take care of was to get
an enormous price for goods introduced by this
vexatious overland communication. Russia fur-
ther protected herself by the prohibition of cheaper
goods from China. Sea-borne tea was absolutely
prohibited in Russia. It had been stated that the
tea drunk in Russia was much superior to what wo
find in England; the simple fact, however, being
that the Russians paid about treble as much for tea
in China as the British pay. Some years ago, in
the province of Fokein, which produced the finest
tea, he got not only a sample, but the prices at which •
the contracts were entered into. From 30 to 40
taels—a tael is an ounce ofsilver—atela.l, or 13311 b.,
of tea could be bought; for this quantity the Rus-
s7ans paid 100 taels. The reasons were obvious—
the tea had to be transmitted overland several thou- .
sand miles—and, as observed before, in order to
enable the Russians to keep up the high price for
manufacture's in China, it was necessary to put
enormously high prices on goOds coming from
thence ; hence that tea which could be bought in
England for about 7s. or Bs. a pound, was abso-
lutely selling in Russia for los, to 255. a pound.
That these facts might excite the attention of his
Imperial Majesty, and also the question which had
been often mooted in Russia, namely, that tea con-
veyed overland lost none of the qualities that re-
commended it, while sea-borne tea does necessarily
lose sonic of its qualities, he (Sir John) made a
suggestion some 3-ears ego of this character—
that a purchase should be made in the locality
which produced that excellent tea, that half of .
it should be sent overland through the monopolists, •
giving theta all the advantages they possess
from monopoly, and that the other half should be
carried by British ships, by which the results as to
the effects cf the different modes would be estab-
lished—what
the tea cost which is brought by sea
and by land, mid what the period in which the tea
can be delivered after going from port to port, and
what the time occupied by this caravan carriage ;
and thirdly, was it true that tea lost anything of
its excellent and sanitary qualities by conveyance
by sea. He believed that the result would have
shown that the tea loses nothing of its excellent
qualities, but that the delay—an immense delay--
of land carriage would be prevented, and that Rus-
sian consumers would have the privilege of drinking
tea for about the third of the present cost. In fact,
there were English houses disposed to deliver the
tea in Russia at 7s. or Bs. a pound, which in Peters-
burgh and Moscow now cost 20s. per pound. The
Russians, however, with admirable sagacity, were
using the elements- which have been presented to
them in China with a foresight and anticipation of
future benefits of which by and bye there would be
seen the development. Representing only the in-
terests of peace, they had obtained possession of vast
tracts in Chinese Tartary, and the time was at hand
in which we- should have to anticipate the new
position of Russia. Russia at present was excluded
from the Atlantic and Pacific by the Dardanelles or
Bosphorus, and the Belt. It is impossible that
Russia can make her way there unless on amicable
terms with Turkey, and with the maritime powers.
And descending from the Baltic, the winter came
on and compelled the return of her ships, so that
they cannot go ;long voyages, and can only re-
main at sea for a few months until their seas were
c!osed in by frosts. But now a state of things
was going on which must be regarded with
great interest, though he had no doubt that
matters will be so overruled that the progress of
Russia would be found advantageous to British in-
terests. But it was no less true that we must not
lose sight of what was going on. Russia had
found an outlet for her fleets into the Great
Southern ocean, and possessed, in the Western
Indian region, some of the most remarkable and
most secure harbours in the world. It was also
true that Russia was passing down that remarkable
river, the Amoor, towards the south, where large
cities were being established and considerable com-
merce springing up ; and here, he would venture to
say, was a far more promising object for Russia
than Turkey was. He had no wish to enter into
the political bearings of the subject, but in Con-
stantinople, he might say, the views of Russia
might be checked. She was surrounded there by
the representatives of great and jealous nations, and
whatever her plans and purposes might be, they
would be thwarted by greater power and greater
sagacity than her own. But as regarded tie action
of Russia upon China he did not see what was to
stop her course. Already large cities existed on
the Amoor with thousands and thousands armed
men there, and hundreds and hundreds of settlers,
encouraged by the Government, were drawn " to-
wards the sun," from the less hospitable climate of
Siberia down to the attractive region of the flowery
land. We would have to meet Russia there. When
he was in China, the prohibition and jealousy of
Russia were very strong. Several traders arrived
under the Russian flag, and hoped they should be
able to land their cargoes ; but though the Chinese
were very willing to admit the cargoes, the Ger-
mans, the Danes, the Swedes, the Belgians, and
traders of other countries not having treaties, said
to the Russians, " You shall not come. You have
the privilege of monopolising the caravan trade."
Now, however, Russia was in the field ; but he was
of opinion that, with the knowledge we should soon
acquire, Russia has no chance of competing with
England in the Chinese market. In the woollen
market, for instance, he did not believe the wool-
lens of Russia could stand for an hour against the
competition of British goods. When the Russian
merchant. shall say—You are to pay foe these in the
currency of the country, one consequence would be
that the sea-borne tea would get into Russia, and
the result will be that the Russian consumer would
get tea on much lower terms, and the Chinese con-
sumer would get Russian commodities at a much
lower rate.

THE RIVER PEIIIO.
Col. James having exhibited a small plan, prepared
by him, showing the features of the locality where
the late disaster in China took place, and the posi-
tion of the 12 vessels forming the squadron that
attempted to enter the river.
Sir John Bowring said that, in maps and corre-
spondence, the river war called. the Peiho. No
Chinaman would know it by that name. Peiho
means simply " the river in the north"—any river
to the north of the locality where you may then be.
The real name is Teinsin-hoa, that is, the river of
Tiensin. He would like to see correspondence and
maps corrected on this point.