“The British interest in the indirect trade is also worthy of notice. In addition to the large balance against us on the direct trade, we have to provide for that created by the excess of value in exports to Australia, America, &c., all of which are paid for by bills drawn on London. We may except a small portion remitted direct by Australia in gold. India forms the only exception. Her exports amount to over nine millions, while the imports are under one million. In this way we settle, indirectly, the balance of trade.”
The commerce with Japan was too imperfectly organized at the period when this History closes to afford reliable statistics. It was, however, considerable, especially in mineral productions. Gold, silver, copper, and iron abounded; and as the Portuguese and Dutch in former days enriched themselves by importing the precious metals from Japan, so it promised, in 1859, to be the Ophir of the Eastern seas, if not of the world. The war with China, and the opening of commercial relations with Japan, were not the only matters of interest in the relations of England to these countries. Russia opened a negotiation with the Japanese emperor, for the cession of a position upon a small island, which there was no doubt in England was intended as a point d’appui for Russian aggression. In China the same power made prodigious inroads, and it was believed in Great Britain and in India, that Russian agents and Russian material of war contributed to the defeat of Admiral Hope and his French allies in the Peiho.
The following communication from St. Petersburg contains interesting details relative to the extension of the Russian dominions in Asia:—“I have received an interesting letter from the harbour of Weg-Chaz-Weg, in the Yellow Sea, dated the 13th of July, 1858. It announces that Count Mouravieff Amoorski arrived there that day on board the steamer America, coming from Japan and Corea, to visit the coast of China. The port is in the neighbourhood of the Gulf of Pechelee. Colonel Boudgoski, chief of the commission for fixing the boundaries between the Russian possessions in Mantchouria and the celestial empire, is going to Pekin to obtain the approbation and definitive confirmation of the new limits of Russia in Asia. According to the new line, the entire coast of Mantchouria, on the Yellow Sea, and all that part of the country not hitherto claimed by any power, becomes a Russian possession. The territory acquired by the last treaty with China is thus considerably increased. All the southern part of the coast near Corea—that is to say, all under the same latitude as the Caucasian provinces, is supplied with a considerable number of excellent harbours. In fact, in no other country in the world is there to be found so many good harbours so near to each other; in fine, it is difficult to decide which is the best. The famous port of Sebastopol, and the Golden Horn in the Bosphorus, are inferior as compared with these bays and ports. The land on the borders of the coast is covered with virgin forests, in which are to be found oaktrees of nine feet in diameter. The writer of the letter adds that the sight of this gigantic vegetation filled him with amazement. It is expected that this newly-acquired territory will become of immense importance, the forests being situate so near such magnificent harbours. The labyrinth of bays, harbours, and islands is called the Gulf of Peter the Great, and the best port is named Vladiwosjok (Dominator of the East), because it is the cradle of the Russian fleet in the Pacific Ocean, and the commencement of Russian domination in the East. This letter was received at St. Petersburg through Pekin, and thence by a Chinese courier through Mongolia and Kiachta. This gives an idea of the celerity with which communications are transmitted between St. Petersburg, Pekin, and the Gulf of Pechelee.”
France had also designs of Oriental empire, which, however awkwardly prosecuted, had never been abandoned. Her efforts during 1857-8-9, in Cochin China, to establish a position there and make acquisitions of territory, were expensive and persevering, although not attended with the success which English and Russian enterprise has so generally secured.
FRANCE.
England and France were ostensible allies during the period of which we now write; but there existed a mutual jealousy, certainly provoked by France, which seemed to regard rivalry with England as the grand object of her political mission. The emperor made great efforts to bring up the revenues of France to a standard that would enable him to undertake all the schemes of his ambition. The actual results in that part of his labours were as follows, taking the statement of the government official organ, the Moniteur:—“The general revenue for the year 1858-9 amounted to 1,094,614,000 fr., being an increase of 2,916,000 fr. on 1857-8. The items which show an improvement are: import duty on foreign sugar, 12,020,000 fr.; duty on potable liquors, 8,439,000 fr.; postage, 3,462,000 fr.; sundry duties and receipts, 2,864,000 fr.; import duty on sundry merchandize, 2,697,000 fr.; salt duties, 1,496,000 fr.; sale of tobacco, 1,471,000 fr.; import duty on corn, 577,000 fr.; navigation dues, 557,000 fr.; stamp duties, 521,000 fr.; customs’ export duties, 425,000 fr.; money orders, 185,000 fr.; transit charge on foreign letters, 26,000 fr. Those which have fallen off are registration duties, 15,036,000 fr.; duty on beetroot sugar, 6,286,000 fr.; sundry customs’ receipts, 1,489,000 fr.; sale of gunpowder, 597,000 fr. The increase of revenue in 1859, as compared with 1857, was 41,931,000 fr.”
These returns were no doubt coloured, as French official reports generally are; but, if correct, showed that the financial resources of France were far inferior to those of England.
A variety of irritating topics were got up in France, and continued to be so discussed in the press, with the connivance of the French government, that the minds of the people of both countries became inflamed with anger, and a disposition to adjust differences of opinion and policy by the sword, eagerly advocated by the French, was reluctantly adopted by the English. The French emperor, finding that the English alliance had again become indispensable to him, silenced the aspersers of his ally, or directed the same journals to uphold the alliance they had so bitterly and pertinaciously decried. The creation of a ship-canal across the isthmus of Suez was one of the most popular themes of French vituperation. A French company desired to carry out this object, or at all events to gain grants of territory in Egypt for that ostensible purpose. The demands made for territorial concession upon the pasha would have given the French government in Egypt a hold upon that country subversive of its independence, and of the rights of the Porte, most menacing to British rule in India, and dangerous to Europe. Even if the scheme for the ship-canal were never executed, no one doubted that France would make use of the territory granted for that purpose to consolidate power in Egypt, England successfully opposed the concession to a French company of any portion of the Egyptian territory. Russia, Austria, and Prussia, from jealousy of England, and especially of her Eastern dominions and marvellous commercial prosperity, aided France in her efforts to induce the sultan to comply with her requests. The policy of England on this subject was still in the ascendant at Constantinople when the session of the British parliament rose in 1859.
Electric communication between England and France formed another subject of difference. The French government was anxious, for its own political purposes, to give exclusive advantages to a particular company; the English government communicated its wish to throw open to competition such undertakings. France pretended acquiescence at one time and indifference at another, but at length, in harmony with the emperor’s usual mode of acting, he suddenly granted a thirty years’ monopoly to the company which, for the reasons referred to, he all along secretly or openly favoured. During the latter part of 1859, the British government made efforts to induce that of France to slacken the restrictive commercial system which it had favoured. At a later period, a treaty was made with such object, through the intervention of Lord Cowley and Mr. Cobden on the part of England.