The New York herald., 1869-06-14
Our Com merciaI Opportunities In China


Our Commercial Opportunities In China.
In our interesting special correspondence
from China, published on Saturday, it is shown
that the Chinese are making considerable pro-
gress in river steamboat navigation and in the
application of other improvements of Western
civilization. However tenaciously portion of
the Chinese-the Chinese tories, as we may call
them-may cling to their old notions, habits
and exclusveness, there Is evidently liberal
and progressive spirit among the more intelli-
gent, the merchants of the great ports and the
ruling class. Prince Kung, the regent of the
empire and uncle of the young Emperor, is a
statesman of large views, and he admits the
necessity of China conforming more than here
tofore to the spirit of the age and material de-
velopments. The Burlingame Embassy shows
this. It is seen, too, in the number of Ameri-
can steamboats, on the rivers and other interior
waters of the empire, and especially in the
concession made to an American company to
lay a succession of telegraph cables along the
coast from Canton to Shanghae, connecting all
The great seaports and commercial cities with
each other. Notwithstanding the evil prophe-
cies of the old British traders and monopolists
and the croakings of foreign and native reac-
tionists, China has taken steps in advance
from which it will be impossible to 60 back.
Nor is there any desire to 60 back among those
who have the control Of affairs.
Our correspondent, who writes on board
steamboat going up the Yangtse Kiang river,
and, therefore, from personal observation,
says:-''The teeming millions of China are
now alive to the advantages of steam, and the
steamboats, of the Yangtse are freighted by
native merchants and loaded with native pas
sengers. The building of native junks has
nearly ceased, and as the steamboats, come
along the junks will disappear as the old broad
horns have disappeared from the Mississippi.
The Yangtse is equal to the Mississippi in ex-
tent, in climate, in resources, and has the I'M
measurable advantage of having over hun
dred and fifty millions of Industrious and pro-
ductive people near Its navigable waters" 1t
has been ascertained by geological examination
that the supply of coal is abundant in the pro-
vinces bordering the Yangtse Kiang, especially
in the province Of Schuen. It can be pro-
duced at the mouth of the mines for two dol
lars and fifty cents to three dollars and fifty
cents per ton. With the introduction of pro-
per machinery the cost can be reduced. The
coal fields of China are estimated as equal in
extent to those of the United States. The in
terror trade by steamboats, is very profitable,
and with such a vast population and produc
&ions 1t would seem to be almost unlimited.
After enlargng upon the nature and amount
of trade, our correspondent concludes by re-
marking that the American river steamboat is
superior to any other craft that has been built
to navigate inland waters; that the Americans
can handle river steamboat better than any
people in the world, and that there is in China
an unlimited field for their enterprise, where,
beyond doubt, the remuneration is certain.
But 1t is not only in the interior of China
in the navigation Of its rivers, in opening and
working its mines and in developing internal
trade through various channels-that Ameri-
cans can and ought to take the lead but they
should be first in external commerce with the
empire as well. No nation--no, not even Eng
land, with all the prestige Of established COM
merce on large scale and the proximity of
her vast Indian empire-has the natural advan-
tages and opportunities for extending CONNER
cial intercourse with China as the American
republic. There is no continent separating
America from Asia. The Pacific Ocean can
be made the direct highway Of numerous lines
of steamships between the two continents, as
the Atlantic is now between Europe and our
shores, and greater trade may grow up be-
tween the Pacific coast and China and Asia
generally than that which exists now between
Europe and the United States. The line of
steamships from San Francisco to China aud
Japan is one step toward the realization of
such a grand future; the completion of the
Pacific Railroad Is more important one; and
tho increasing tide of Chinese immigration to
our shores is another one but there Is and
nations for the supremacy and control of the
trade with the rich and populous countries of
Asia. England will always be formidable
competitor, and in ten years, probably, Russia
will have continuous line Of railroads from
Europe 10 the great wall Of China or even to
Pekin. The Celestial empire will In time be
touched at various points on the land side, and
by sea from India by lines of magnetic tele-
graph connecting with Europe. 1t twill not do,
therefore, to fold our arms and say we have
greater natural advantages for communication
and trade with China. These advantages are
of no value unless we use them and enter
vigorously into the race for commercial supre-
macy. We must maintain and cultivate the
most friendly and intimate relations with the
Chinese; we must push our enterprise and
trade; the American company having the
privilege of connecting the ports aid large
cities of China by telegraph must carry out
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