Morning journal and courier., 1888-08-08
Another Fall of SebastOPOI. Alan Tn.,dn., nnil.r Ma

From the London Daily Newsj
 The old historic fortress-town of the Cri-
 mean Peninsula appears to be destined short lY to suffer another fall. This time 1t is the young and budding commerce which of late years has lent life and movement to her wharves, assisted to rebuild and repeeple her streets, and attracted to her commodious Iand-locked harbor the flags of all the mari time nations of Europe, which is about to depart from her, and leave Sebastopol to re- gain the military and naval glory of which she was so rudely bereft thirty-three years ago. As the "Novoe Vremya." writing on this subject, seneentiously remarks, "Com- merce does not frsternize with war, nor flourish under the mouth of the cannon" At the time when the construction of the Lozof Sebastopol railway scheme was under the consideration of the Imperial council the question was fully discussed whether Sebas- topol should become exclusively a military port, or at the same time 8 port of com-
 merce. s'At that time,' remarks the ffNe-
 voc Vremya, ,'' "no one dresmJ of the recon
 atruction of the Black Sea fleet, except as 8 remote possibility in the uncertain future" !" It was this future uncertainty which at that
 epoch decided the government upon making
 Sebastopol port of exportation, and as such the place has to a certain degree prospered
 greatly during recent years. It is impossi- bIe however, ts create great commercial oen- ters at will. Sebastopol is situated at least hundred versts from the fertile regions of the Taurida, whence her export industries are drawn. It should also be remembered
 that Sebastopol has never really possessed a class of frst-class merchants, properly so called, and those commercial agents who have of late years established themselves there are almost exclusively occupied in the ship ment of grain. They are chiefly representa- I tives of large Jewish houses in England and France or more particularly in London and Paris. These agents have never hid from themselves or their principals the fact that | their establishment at Sebastopol was depen- | dent on the temporary permission of the ns- ! val and military powers which have virtually controlled the place, and it is for this reason | that, despite the immense profits realized oi | late years in the grain export trade of Sebas 1 topol these merchants and agents have ney- CT embarked 8 rouble in the erection of mag azines and stores, but have hired the govern. ment granaries and magazines, or allowed | their grain awaiting shipment to accumulate l temporarily on the opened wharves, and pro- tected it as best they might from the e1e- msnts. Their economy and prudent fore
 sight appear to have been well grounded in | the result. Now it appears the government, l acting upon the advice of the naval and mil. 1 itary administrations, have decided to ex. 1 cluds all maritime commerce from the South I Bay, which in future will be reserved to the 1 Imperial navy. This exclusion is equivalent I to a suspension of the cereal exports from Sebastopol. The maritime commerce of Sc. bastopolwill certainly be transferred to The.
 odosia by coast, which is only four hours | sail further eastward. This transfer will nc
 doubt be easily and rapidly accomplished | The ancient Kaffs, at one time notorious 6, | the greatest slave market between Europe | and Asia, possesses natural advantages high. | ly induciye to it's future eminence as Black
 Sea port of the Tanrida. It will be necessa- " only to construct branch line of railway from Djankol, on the Lozof Sebastopol sys tenn, to Theodosia, a distance of one hundred and ten versts; but as Djankol is only distant one hundred and fifty nine vests from Sebas
 topol, it will be seen that the new port oi Theodosia will be reached from the interior
 with saving of forty-nine versts of railway transit. Besides this advantage, Theodosis itself it situated in the most fertile region od
 the peninsula, rich in export products oi
 many kinds. good road connects Theodo'
 sia with Kertch, distance of only ninety l varsts. or about sixty English miles, anc
 with the transfer of the commerce of Sebas
 l topoI to the former port, there will be every , incentive to the rapid connection of Thsodo sia and Kertch by rail. A glance at the maj