Russian and British trade compared. Openings for increasing British exports.
When we review the productions of Bokhara, and the apt uses to which they are applied by her native population, we may wonder at the great outlet which exists to our commerce in that quarter; but the demand is steady, and its constancy leads to a belief that it may be improved. There is no country in the Mahommedan world where a merchant is safer, and more free from oppression and exaction, than in Bokhara. If the people are bigoted on account of their religion, they are also bigoted to the injunctions which that religion imposes upon them. The Koran enjoins the most strict protection of the merchant in a variety of passages: nor are these violated or evaded by the ruler of the country. The goods which are imported into Bokhara are again sent to Samarcand, Kokan, and Yarkund, in China; also to Orgunje, and all the little cantons around the capital. Coarse articles are in more request than the finer fabrics, for the Uzbeks are very indifferent judges. We have seen that this market is supplied by two great European nations; but the females of both Cabool and Bokhara prize more highly the manufactures of Britain: and the influence of the ladies is of no mean weight in any country. The chints, while it has almost superseded the demand for shawl goods, has instilled a desire for novelty, and given a general taste for other articles of British import. Russia possesses such an extent of inland navigation, that she can bring the whole of her goods to the confines of Asia by water-carriage; and it is the superiority and cheapness of our manufactures that alone enable us to appear in the contest by the Indian route. We must surrender to her, I imagine, all trade in metals, and other weighty articles made from them; but we may successfully compete with her in our manufactures. To a mercantile country like England, a demand for goods is of the highest moment; and it is to be presumed that increase of demand will generally be attended with a diminution of price, while the increased sale would still bring an adequate profit to the manufacturer. A more extended exportation of British goods into these countries, in particular of white cloths, muslins, and woollens, I am assured by the first merchants, and even by the Vizier of Bokhara, would have the immediate effect of driving the Russians from that branch of commerce. The present exports of these articles from that country have been gradually declining; and the increase of the custom-house duties of Cabool affords the best evidence of the cause—the late increase of our own exports. I have taken pains to investigate this fact in other quarters, and the result of my enquiries leads me to believe, that we may not only throw the Russian part of this trade into the hands of our own merchants, but very materially augment the trade to Toorkistan in the whole of these articles. There are merchants in Cabool who would willingly push speculation still further, though some of them have a capital of eight or ten lacs of rupees floating in the Toorkistan trade. The transport of merchandise by the route of Cabool costs little; and, if Russia navigates the Volga, the greatest of the European rivers, Britain can command like facilities, by two more grand and equally navigable streams, the Ganges and Indus.
CHAP. IV.
NOTICE ON THE TRADE OF PERSIA.
State of commerce in Persia.
It is an old and just remark, that the Persians are not a trading nation, and have ever evinced equal timidity in adventures of navigation and commerce. The extent of trade which may be carried on through an inland country must always be limited, as compared with one possessing a sea-coast and harbours. In these Persia is not altogether wanting; but her population neither navigates the sea which washes her southern shores, nor the Caspian, that approaches her capital. The shipping of both is in the hands of foreigners, who have it in their power to lead the taste of the country by the nature of their exports, and to increase their quantity as occasion and opportunity present themselves. Persia is well supplied with goods of European fabric, both Russian and English, which stand much in the same relative estimation in this country as they do in Bokhara. English manufactures are preferred to those of any other nation; and, as the Persians dress well, their country is, perhaps, the best mart for their exportation in Asia. It is nevertheless very remarkable, that the British merchant here encounters a greater share of competition than in most other countries; and I cannot but think that it is greatly owing to the remissness and inattention of the English themselves.
Routes of the commerce, and their advantages.
It is not intended that we should here enter on an account of the general commerce of Persia, nor is the deficiency of our information such as to require any such essay. My own attention has been particularly directed to its northern trade; but we shall be throwing a clearer light upon that subject by sketching the whole of the routes of commerce into the kingdom. The intercourse between Russia and Persia is principally carried on by the ports of the Caspian; but there are also routes both east and west of that sea, by which its commodities reach the country. Meshid, in Khorasan, is supplied with many Russian articles by way of Bokhara. Tabreez and Tehran likewise receive them by way of Teflis and the Caucasus. Till lately, the imports of Britain into this country were conveyed by way of Bushire, which is the only port in the gulf of Persia, since Gombroon or Bunder Abbas, opposite the famous Ormuz, has long ceased to hold its former supremacy. We are informed that English East-Indiamen at one time sailed direct from Europe, and landed their cargoes in this harbour; but the annual amount of customs does not now exceed four thousand ducats. In our own times the exports of Britain have first been sent to India, and then reshipped for Persia by a most circuitous channel. It is with great propriety, therefore, that an endeavour has lately been made to open a road from Trebizond, on the Black Sea, to the northern provinces of Persia. With due care and attention, it cannot fail to become a most valuable opening to Britain, for it brings her goods into those parts of Persia, which are most stored with those that are brought from Russia, and gives a fair opportunity for a just competition with them, since it is equally inconvenient for the Russians to send their goods south of Isfahan, as it was for the English to carry them beyond that city. The trade by Trebizond places the rival powers on a more equal footing: and it will be remarkable if the experience of a very few years does not bear testimony to the greater consumption of British goods in Persia. This route too has great advantages over those from the Levant by Aleppo or Damascus, for both the Euphrates and Tigris traverse inhospitable countries; and there is no safe road into Persia from these cities but by way of Bagdad. At present, the goods which are sent beyond that city are of trifling value, for there is a loss in pushing on the greater and more common articles. The eastern provinces of Persia, about Herat and Meshid, are partly supplied from Candahar, in the kingdom of Cabool, which is a better line of commerce than would generally be believed. A boat may reach the coast of Mekran in ten days from Bombay; and Candahar is but eighteen easy marches from the sea. It is therefore a most valuable position, as the Indian exports which reach it branch eastward into Cabool, and westward into Persia. In this direction, too, there is no competition from any other nation.
Foreign nations which trade with Persia.
Goods introduced.
With the command of position acquired by the English from their possessions in India, it is a matter of surprise that any other nation should be at all able to appear in the gulf of Persia as a trader; yet the case is very different, and many of the imports into Bushire are of foreign manufacture. The Dutch are in the habit of trading with this port, and have lately established a company for the purpose, though their operations have been at no time very active, and are now suspended from fear of the plague. They send indigo, spices, sugar, and coffee of their own produce from Batavia: they export little cloth, and their indigo is inferior to the article produced in India. When the Hollanders do not find a sale for their goods at Bushire, they take them on to Bussora. The French import the same articles as the Dutch from their settlements in Bourbon and the neighbouring islands. But the most formidable rivals are the Americans, who have only entered lately on this trade. At present, they land most of their cargoes in the east coast of Africa, from which they find their way to Muscat and Persia. Hitherto, they have only sent white goods, and with them they have spread an opinion, which was repeated to me by the Armenian merchants of Isfahan, that their cloths are superior to British, because the cotton is produced in their own country, and not injured from pressing. It is said to wear and wash well; and, if this cloth were introduced more extensively, the merchants assure me it would have a good sale: very little of it has been hitherto imported. The chintses of India, which are manufactured at Masulipatam, have a considerable consumption in Persia, and of late years have been preferred to English. There is not sufficient attention given to the brightness and variety of the pattern in England; and the native manufactures of India, though much coarser, retain their hue and brilliancy much longer. The demand for them is, therefore, on the increase, which is the more worthy of notice, as the English chintses for a long time superseded those of India, and are now sold cheaper than those of Masulipatam. We have stated that the Russians introduce their manufactures into Northern Persia; and they also import the fine Polish chints which I met with at Bokhara. There is no similar manufacture of the English to compete with this; which is also in great demand throughout Persia. The English do not, therefore, keep the ground which they might maintain in the chints trade, both from their position and manufacturing skill.