The following table of the commerce of the Crimea in 1838 and 1839, is taken from official documents. The figures contained in it are in our opinion exaggerated, for they do not by any means agree with those resulting from the detailed table we shall give further on.
| IMPORTS. | EXPORTS. | |||
| 1838. | 1839. | 1838. | 1839. | |
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles. | rubles | |
| Kertch | 175,321 | 250,887 | 226,999 | 123,082 |
| Theodosia | 673,535 | 695,130 | 1,281,244 | 955,108 |
| Eupatoria | 185,480 | 131,222 | 2,299,365 | 2,394,867 |
| Balaclava | 6,695 | |||
| Total | 1,040,941 | 1,077,239 | 3,807,608 | 3,473,057 |
Be it remarked that among the exports corn alone figured in 1839 for 835,486 rubles for Theodosia, and 1,755,052 rubles for Eupatoria; and as all this corn came from countries beyond the Crimea, the nullity of the peninsular exportation is apparent. Moreover, the gross total of three and a half millions is scarcely the fifteenth part of the annual exportation of the town of Odessa alone. In order to give a more exact idea of the industrial and commercial situation of the Crimea, we set down the details of its exports and imports in 1839.
| IMPORTS. | |||
| ARTICLES. | KERTCH. | THEODOSIA. | EUPATORIA. |
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles. | |
| Cotton | 49,993 | 33,650 | |
| Cotton thread | 4,080 | 4,986 | |
| Turkish cotton cloths | 14,164 | 532,976 | |
| Chairs | 5,750 | ||
| Wooden vessels | 3,645 | 2,441 | |
| Woollen caps | 4,504 | 29,218 | |
| Oil | 20,636 | 3,589 | 16,997 |
| Sickles | 5,000 | ||
| Wines | 12,069 | 2,190 | 2,342 |
| Porter | 4,600 | 2,171 | |
| Cassonade | 14,354 | ||
| Fresh and dried fruit | 100,402 | 15,107 | 27,464 |
| Fine pearls | 4,000 | ||
| Coffee | 4,319 | 25,102 | |
| Linen thread | 2,204 | ||
| Nard juice and grapes | 6,269 | ||
| Turkish tobacco | 3,345 | 7,823 | |
| Olives | 3,467 | ||
| Raw silk | 9,008 | ||
| Dyed silk thread | 20,915 | ||
| Oak galls | 20,387 | ||
| Colours | 13,814 | ||
| Vegetables | 2,122 | ||
| Pepper | 3,063 | ||
| EXPORTS. | |||
| ARTICLES. | KERTCH. | THEODOSIA. | EUPATORIA. |
| rubles. | rubles. | rubles. | |
| Raw hides | 15,152 | 22,653 | 68,312 |
| Fish | 7,310 | ||
| Red caviar | 13,113 | ||
| Linseed | 6,100 | ||
| Rapeseed | 6,600 | ||
| Wheat | 31,040 | 745,031 | 1,544,313 |
| Wool | 41,185 | 19,087 | 344,997 |
| Cordage | 3,275 | ||
| Woollen felt | 7,670 | 31,424 | |
| Tanned leather | 18,375 | 5,150 | |
| Flax, hemp, and stuffs | 11,323 | 27,065 | |
| Butter | 8,133 | 61,445 | |
| Bar iron | 2,340 | 14,700 | |
| Salt | 8,813 | 5,700 | |
| Soda | 4,691 | ||
| Rye | 48,157 | 66,600 | |
| Barley | 39,485 | 1,333,640 | |
| Millet | 2,870 | 1,910 | |
| Glue | 3,494 | ||
| Raw Hemp | 3,264 | ||
| Locks | 22,296 | ||
| Copper utensils | 3,050 | ||
| Brass, and brass wire | 4,650 | ||
| Cutlery | 13,509 | ||
| Swords and epaulettes | 3,000 | ||
| Sheep skins | 3,650 | ||
| Suet | 11,893 | ||
| Turpentine | 2,100 | ||
| Beans | 8,589 | ||
| Flour | 2,120 | ||
| Raw silk | 3,200 | ||
We do not at all coincide in opinion with those who attribute the decadence we have just described to the general character of the people of the East. The Orientals, it is true, have none of that feverish activity which characterises the people of our climes; besides which their wants are so limited and so easily satisfied, that they can never, in their present social condition, become strenuous workers. Yet we have seen that the Tatars, when they first occupied the country, were distinguished for their agricultural and industrial labours, whether it was in consequence of their mixture with the old races, or merely of the propitious climate; they also employed themselves with such success in gardening and the cultivation of the vine and of corn, that the Crimea under the khans was considered one of the chief regions whence Constantinople drew its supplies. It was only the steppe tribes, whose sole wealth was their cattle, that remained true to their primitive habits and their nomade life. In like manner there exists to this day a very striking difference, both intellectual and physical, between the two fractions of the Mussulman race of the Crimea.
We believe, therefore, that under a better system it would have been easy to revive the laborious disposition of the Tatars by facilitating and encouraging commercial transactions, and gradually effacing the disheartening apprehensions under which the Mussulman population have naturally laboured since their great calamities befel them. Assuredly we cannot blame Russia for that depopulation of the country which was the first cause of its decadence. As victors, the Russians used all the rights of the strong hand to consolidate their conquest and extinguish all chance of insurrection. The means no doubt were violent, disastrous, and often even exceeded all the bounds of humanity; yet it was scarcely possible but that excesses should be committed in a war between Russian Christians and Mussulman Tatars, who had so often braved, triumphed over, and swayed the Muscovite power. In fairness, therefore, we can only criticise the measures adopted by the Russian government subsequently to the conquest, from the day when the country was completely pacified, and the Tatars submitted implicitly to the new yoke, and lost all hope of deliverance.
We have already seen how an act of caprice annihilated the commercial prosperity of Theodosia, which would naturally have had the greatest influence over the industrial development of the peninsula; and we have pointed out the mischievous measures that ruined various branches of the native trade. To these depressing causes, for which the government with its fatal system of prohibition and its half measures is alone responsible, we must add others no less active, because they principally affect the agricultural population who stand most in need of encouragement. We have already repeatedly mentioned the countless depredations of the inferior government agents. In the Crimea the difference of religion and language, and the difficulty of making any kind of appeal for redress, naturally rendered the local administration more troublesome and rapacious than in any other province. The consequence was that the Tatars led a life of fear and distrust, agriculture languished, and every man cultivated yearly only as much as was necessary for the subsistence of his family, that he might not excite the cupidity of the employés.
On his accession to the government, Count Voronzof, with his natural kindness, applied himself strenuously to improve the condition of the Tatars; he took them under his special protection, and prevented the rapacity of his underlings as far as in him lay. Unfortunately, his efforts could hardly avail beyond the limits of his own estates, and all his generous intentions were baffled or worn out by the incessant pettyfogging arts of the employés. Nothing could more signally exemplify the distrustful feelings of the Tatars, than the events which occurred during the famine of 1833, which was so great that whole families perished of hunger. Moved by these misfortunes the government offered aid to the Tatars, but incredible as it may appear, the proffered succours were generally refused, so much did the Mussulmans dread the price which would be afterwards exacted for such assistance.