Rostof is the key to all the trade of the Sea of Azof and the south-eastern parts of the Russian empire.⁠[269] It is a town of about 12,000 inhabitants, composed of Russians, Cossacks, Armenians, Greeks, and a few foreigners. The merchants generally have only their offices here, and live at Taganrok, which is 50 miles distant. They go to Rostof once or twice a week, and send there the orders for their purchases. Rostof is the capital of a district (Uezd) in the government of Ekaterinoslaf, and is the station of one of the two brigades of the reserve division of the army of the Caucasus. In the course of last year these troops were marched away to the Caucasus, and the town was left undefended, as it appeared in no danger of being attacked. Rostof has grown up from a small fishing village to its present importance, solely on account of its admirable geographical position with respect to trade, and so gradual has been its rise, that it would be difficult to say at what period it was first founded. It is since the year 1835 that its trade has undergone a marked yearly increase. Rostof enjoys no special privileges, and its flourishing state is entirely due to its convenient site, and to the large amount of foreign capital of which it is the centre, which has drawn to it the produce of the interior of the empire, and made it one of the most important commercial towns.

As Odessa is the outlet for the produce of the southern Polish provinces, and from this circumstance derives its importance, so Rostof is one of the principal débouchés for the agricultural produce of Great Russia, and consequently likely to become a place still more flourishing than it is at present. Great Russia, as the governments around Moscow are called, is the most thickly peopled and most productive part of the Russian empire, containing an industrious and active population, and the principal seats of agriculture and manufactures. It formerly sent its produce almost entirely to the Baltic for exportation, but of late years there has been a tendency in growers to avail themselves of the great arteries of the Don and the Volga, and shipments from the Azof and the other ports of southern Russia have consequently much increased.

Rostof from its situation may also compete with the North of Russia for a portion of the Asiatic trade, for it has a nearly complete water communication with the Caspian, and has likewise constant dealings with the northern parts of the Caucasus. Its great importance, however, arises from the fact that it stands at the point of communication between the widely extended river system of Great Russia and the Southern Seas.

The ports of the Azof are Taganrok, which is so intimately connected with Rostof, Mariopol, Berdiansk, and the nominal port of Yeisk. There is no import trade of any importance carried on in any of them, because of the high duties of the Russian tariff. The total amount of the imports at all the ports of the Sea of Azof was only 300,000l. for the year 1853, while the exports exceeded 3,350,000l.⁠[270] The imports consisted wholly of articles of luxury chiefly the produce of the Levant, such as fruits, oil, and wines, and the largest item was Greek wines, of which there was a demand for no less than 600,000 gallons. There can be no doubt that the imports are checked by the high tariff, for the exports have more than trebled in the last four years from 1850 to 1854, having increased from 1,100,000l. to 3,350,000l., while the imports in the same time have only increased 40,000l. It is true that the same population which finds it more convenient to export their produce by the Azof, may have the same reason for receiving their imports by Petersburg, and such to a certain extent is the case, for while the whole exports⁠[271] from all Russia amounted in the year 1852 to nearly 18,000,000l., the imports in the same year were upwards of 16,000,000l., so that the sum which had to be paid in cash was about 1,800,000l., and on looking to the tables of the imports and exports of bullion, it appears that in the year 1852 there was imported in gold and silver 1,988,000l.⁠[272]

The principal articles of exportation from the Azof are wheat,⁠[273] linseed, rye, wool, tallow, iron, and military stores. The stock of wheat, under ordinary circumstances, is comparatively small, as the vessels which carry it abroad reach the shipping port about the time when the chief supplies from the interior, either by water or by land, arrive. The wheat shipped from Rostof may be classed as follows:—First, the wheat from the country of the Line, that is, the districts occupied by the Line and Tchernomorski Cossacks, which are situated to the northward of the Terek and Kuban rivers, between the territory of the Don Cossacks and Circassia, and the Black and Caspian seas. Secondly, the wheat that is grown on the lands watered by the Don, which is superior to the former in quality and condition. Thirdly, the Volga wheat, which is with justice preferred to the Don and Line wheats, and is chiefly grown by the wealthy German colonies situated on both banks of the Volga and its tributary rivers northwards of Saratof. The bulk of the wheat shipped from the port of Taganrok consists of hard wheat which is principally consumed in the Mediterranean, where it is used for the manufacture of maccaroni, but a small quantity is imported into this country.

Hard wheat requires a virgin soil, and this accounts for its being in Europe almost entirely grown in the south of Russia.⁠[274] It is remarkable for its bright yellow colour, heavy weight and hard grain. Of late years the proprietors, whose estates are situated in the vicinity of Taganrok, have directed their attention to the growth of soft wheat, and their crops have yielded a wheat whose quality has been found quite equal to that of Mariopol and Berdiansk. It is worthy of notice that in some districts, if the same wheat be sown for three or four consecutive years, it gradually loses its original character, and finally turns into hard wheat. The wheat, whilst in this state of transition, bearing at the same time the character both of hard and soft wheat, is called by the Russians, “Pererodka” (from the verb perachadit, to go over). The wheat shipped from Mariopol and Berdiansk is grown in the immediate vicinity of those towns by the German and Greek colonists, and likewise by the Russians. It is of a reddish colour, weighing on an average from 60 to 63 lbs. per bushel English, and commands a higher price than either the hard wheat of Taganrok, or the soft Polish that is shipped from Odessa. Most of it was formerly shipped to the Mediterranean, but of late years the English millers have learnt to appreciate the peculiar qualities it possesses, which principally consist in the strength of the flour it produces, and since 1851 and 1852 large quantities have been imported into this country.

The linseed, which is shipped from Rostof, is grown throughout those districts that are watered by the Don and the Volga, as far as the point where, making a bend in their course, these two rivers approach for a short space, within 45 miles of each other. The linseed plant is cultivated by proprietors, as well as by the peasantry. The plant is of a coarse kind, and the fibre is thrown away as useless;⁠[275] but many good authorities consider, as the demand for flax is so great in Europe, that the stalk of the plant might be turned to account at least for the coarser kinds of linen.

Rye is grown over the whole country principally for home consumption in the shape either of flour or brandy. Russian brandy, “Vodka,” is extremely strong, measuring about 30°, which is nearly equal to common spirits of wine.⁠[276] A small quantity of rye has been lately exported to Holland, for the manufacture of Schiedam. The Government are the chief purchasers for the rye brought to Rostof for exportation. They contract for it in the shape of flour, which comes down the river packed in mat bags, of which 500,000 or 600,000 Tchetwerts⁠[277] are yearly received, and shipped from Rostof to the Crimea, and the coasts of Circassia. It is ground by windmills, and watermills high up in Great Russia.

Besides the rye flour, munitions of war, such as anchors, chains, cables, shells, shot, cannon, and ironware of every description, are shipped hence for Sevastopol and other places. The ammunition stores of metallic composition come firstly from Lugan, at the confluence of that tributary of the Don called the Donetse,⁠[278] and the river Lugan about 100 miles from Rostof. Here are iron-works, and a cannon foundry belonging to the crown, which in the time of Dr. Clarke were all under the direction of an Englishman named Gascoigne, formerly superintendent of the Carron works in Scotland, whose improvements he betrayed to the Russian Government. “From thence,” says Dr. Clarke, “the Emperor’s artillery passes by water to the Black Sea. Mr. Gascoigne found excellent coal at Lugan, in consequence of which discovery, as well as its convenient situation for water carriage, the foundry was there established.” Probably some of the finer articles required for military use come from Toola, which is the Birmingham of Russia, and famous for its guns and pistols, and many articles are now supplied from some parts of Siberia.

The exports of wool from the Sea of Azof have not kept pace with the large increase which has taken place in other articles of export. The amount exported in 1853 was 5,196,708 lbs., being a decrease of nearly 2 millions of lbs. on the quantity exported in 1852, and an increase on that of the preceding years, the average exports of which seem to have been about 4 millions of lbs. The decrease may be ascribed to the great competition offered in the western markets by the shipments made from Australia, and by the increasing home consumption in Russia. In the trade carried on by caravans through Siberia, between Russia and China,⁠[279] cloth is the chief article of barter, and the prices of the wool in the grease are less influenced by those which the exporter, guided by the state of the London market, is able to pay, than by the greater or lesser demand for Russian cloths at home and in China. There is little or none of the wool shipped in its original greasy state. It is either brook-washed previous to the sheep being clipped, which is accomplished by driving them through a stream, or hand-washed in warm and then rinsed in cold water. This latter operation, which cleanses the wool much more effectually than the former, is generally managed by the foreign merchants themselves, who for that object have large wash-houses established at Rostof and Kherson. The Merino fleeces require particular care, for previous to their being washed they have to be assorted according to the fineness of the hair. This process requires some skill and considerable experience, as a parcel of wool seldom consists of less than five or six assortments.

The common Russian sheep, which is raised as well by the rich landed proprietor as by the poorest serf, requires little care. Its wool is of a long staple, coarse and wiry, and at all times finds a ready demand in the English market, where it is particularly well suited for purposes where a long stapled wool is the chief requisite. The best wool of this kind is produced in the Cossack territories, and goes in the trade under the denomination of Donskoy. The Tatar broad-tailed sheep is generally of a brown greyish colour, and is found in all the steppes inhabited by the Nogais Tatars, Kalmuks, Khirgiz, and other eastern tribes. It produces a wool of considerably less value than Donskoy, which is used by the natives in the manufacture of coarse cloths and carpets. The Merino sheep was introduced into the south of Russia about forty years ago. The climate is not altogether favourable for the growth of fine wool, and the losses incurred during and after long and severe winters are great. The quality of the wool is generally good, and there are flocks which produce an article equal in texture and fineness to the best Silesian wool. The Merino sheep are spread all over the country, but are principally to be found in New Russia, and in the government of Saratof and others adjoining it. They require considerable care, and as the rearing of them is attended with great expenses they are only to be found on the lands of the German colonists and of wealthy Russian proprietors. The Merino sheep of South Russia is a descendant of the Saxon breed originally introduced into this country, which it still closely resembles. The Valachian sheep, otherwise called Zigay, has been successfully crossed with the Merinos, and the breed thus produced, which has retained much of the character of the Spanish sheep, generally goes under the name of Metis or Schlonsky.

The quantity of fine wool produced in Russia has not, I believe, increased of late years. Some five or six years ago, in the governments of Ekaterinoslaf and Kharkof, it was estimated that upwards of one-third of the Merino sheep reared in those governments had perished through disease and want of fodder. On the whole the proprietor of Merino sheep is exposed to greater risks and losses than those incurred in any other branch of husbandry. Cases often occur, when, in the course of a few days, the toil of many years is irrecoverably lost. A late spring, with frosty nights in April, is sometimes the cause of the greatest mischief; the fodder collected during the autumn proving insufficient for the maintenance of the sheep, and the frost killing the lambs the moment they are dropped by their mother. Most of the flocks are under the care of a German shepherd, and on many estates no expense has been spared in introducing in the management of the sheep every possible amelioration. Amongst the finest flocks in the south of Russia is that belonging to Don Baguer, the Spanish Consul-General at Odessa, and his brother, an establishment which dates from about the year 1839, and numbering lately 15,000 head of Merino sheep. In 1844 he shipped a cargo of rams to the Sultan, some of which were of the value of 40l., which presents a great contrast to the common price of sheep in Southern Russia, which is from 4s. to 6s. a-head. In well-managed flocks a regular register is kept of the rams and ewes and of the quality of their offsprings. Every sheep is branded with a number in the ear, and it is the art of the shepherd to take care that the breed is so mixed as to keep one uniform average in the wool and raise the standard. The lambing time is in April, shortly after the sheep quit the sheepfolds, in which they are sheltered during the winter.

The exports of tallow from the Sea of Azof in the year 1853 amounted to 35,926 cwt. In the south-east part of Russia the principal melting establishments are at Bachmut, Slavansk, and the neighbouring towns. In the early part of the spring the melters proceed to the various cattle fairs held in the governments of Ekaterinoslaf, Kharkof, the Tauride, and the lands of the Cossacks, to effect their purchases. After they have collected the quantity of cattle which their means allow them, their next care is to select and rent tracts of land on either side of the Sea of Azof for them to feed upon. Considerable experience is required in the selection of the pasturage grounds, for the profit which the melter derives, after his cattle have been converted into tallow, depends less on the price paid for them and the price he receives for the tallow, than on the fat state of the cattle and the amount of tallow which they consequently yield. Thus, in years of drought, when the cattle can but barely subsist on a scanty vegetation, and hundreds perish through want of water, the tallow-dealer incurs losses against which it is impossible to guard. In the beginning of September the herds of cattle quit their summer pasturages, and are slowly driven towards the melting stations, where the process of slaughtering and melting generally commences about the 10th of October.

The animal, after being killed and stripped of its hide, and after the head and the legs (at the knees) have been cut off and the inside taken out, is then divided into four parts, which are thrown into the cauldron. With the exception of two strips of flesh taken from off each side of the spine, the whole of the meat is converted into tallow. The bones are crushed, and a small quantity of fine tallow is collected from the marrow contained within them. Old sheep, especially of the Merino breed, whose wool deteriorates after they have reached their fourth or fifth year, are likewise converted into tallow, which may be valued at about 1l. less per ton than that produced from cattle. The average price of tallow on the spot is 25l. to 28l. per ton. There is a large home consumption for hides, and of late years very few have been shipped abroad, although the export duty has been considerably reduced. Oxen being found more valuable when used for draught, cows are principally used in the manufacture of tallow. Some twenty years ago there was hardly any tallow shipped from the Azof; all that was produced in the districts surrounding it being sent to the fairs which are held at Belgorod, where it was bought up by the Petersburg dealers, who sent it over land to the North.

The cattle in the South of Russia are of the same breed which is found in Bulgaria and the Danubian Principalities, of a uniform white-greyish colour, long horned and with large bones. The German colonists have imported cattle from their own country, and their cows are found, especially for dairy purposes, much superior to those of Russia. A Russian cow costs about 9 or 10 R. = about 1l. 10s.; a German cow from 20 to 25 R. = from 3l. to 4l. In the South of Russia no cheese or butter is made beyond what is required for the wants of the inhabitants, but a considerable quantity of salt-butter is brought down the Volga and the Don from Siberia, and is shipped to Turkey and the Greek Archipelago.

Formerly wheat was the only article of importance shipped at Rostof for a foreign market. Linseed, wool, and tallow were first introduced as articles of export by the house of Messrs. William Yeames and Co., the only English merchants on the shores of the Sea of Azof.

The exports of Russia consist almost wholly of articles of raw produce, which are raised by the assistance of foreign capital. Of the whole exports of the empire, which of late years have reached a total of nearly 18 millions sterling, about 7 millions are yearly sent from this country as an advance upon goods that are to be delivered afterwards. Thus upwards of one-third of the price of the whole exports is paid from three to nine months before the merchant receives his goods.⁠[280] This system is necessary because there is a great dearth of capital in Russia; and if money were not advanced to her beforehand by foreigners, she would not be able to pay the expense of raising and forwarding so large a quantity of agricultural produce as she at present exports. From the difficulty of communication in Russia, and the great distances that have to be traversed, the expense of carriage frequently forms a more considerable item in the price of the article at the port of shipment than the original cost paid to the producer. Thus a quarter of wheat which costs at Rostof in store 22s., its average price in ordinary years, has been bought of the grower of the wheat for about 10s. The expense of carriage has amounted to about 8s., so that about 4s. per quarter remains to the exporter as interest on his money, remuneration for his labour, and other incidental charges.

Russia is a poor country; she has not had time and opportunity to lay up, as we have done, a vast amount of money, always seeking for employment in all parts of the world. With a rich soil and an industrious population, she has numberless opportunities of laying out money so as to bring in large profits, as is proved by the current rate of interest, which is about 12 per cent.⁠[281]

Most of the purchases of Russian produce are made on contract during the autumn and winter months, when two-thirds, three-fourths, and sometimes even more, of the total amount is paid for in advance in hard cash. The foreign merchant established on the shores of the Sea of Azof reimburses himself for the produce he has shipped abroad by emitting bills at three months’ date; and as the import trade, as has been shown, is comparatively insignificant, and hitherto no banks have been established, he is obliged to send his bills for negotiation either to St. Petersburg or to Odessa. From thence the proceeds are remitted to him by post either in gold or silver. The commission and brokerage on the negotiation of the bills, and the insurance and postage on the transmission of the money, amount to about 1 per cent. Most of the bills drawn at Taganrok are negotiated at St. Petersburg, because the exchange there is generally more favourable than at Odessa. It frequently occurs that a whole month elapses from the time the bill is advised until the money which it has realised is received. The heavy stamp-duties now charged on bills are a serious if not an insurmountable obstacle to any improvement in the transaction of money operations.

Merchants now deal directly with the producers, through the agency of confidential clerks settled in various parts in the interior of the country. Pavlosk, on the Don, about 400 miles from Rostof, is the principal station for these agents. The great house of Ralli⁠[282] has, besides their establishment at Pavlosk, a complete network of agencies over all the country situated to the east of Moscow, where such of the linseed and wheat as is shipped at St. Petersburg is chiefly produced.

I have now given a list of the principal articles of export from the Sea of Azof, and endeavoured to explain the manner in which so large an amount of agricultural produce is raised in so poor a country. The imports, as I have said, are kept out not because the population are unwilling to receive them, but solely by the high duties of the Russian tariff. These were reduced in 1850, but not low enough to create any sensible benefit. M. Tegoborski, in his answer to M. Léon Faucher, at once admits this fact, and says that the finances of the state would undoubtedly profit by a different policy. The reason for not relaxing the tariff is probably political. The manufacturers, whose trade has been created by protection, would undoubtedly cry out at any change, but the more powerful body of the consumers would be favourable to it, so that the Government would have little to fear from the hostility of the public feeling. It would have, however, a decidedly liberal political tendency. It would be impossible to admit foreign goods in large quantities and at the same time prevent a greater intercourse with foreigners, who would be chiefly the inhabitants of Western Europe. These would bring with them their own ideas, the results of unfettered reason, for which the natives of Russia, of all people in the world the most unprejudiced, feel a natural yearning. The Russian Government is too wise not to see that it would be impossible for it to keep up its present system under such altered circumstances; and therefore, although it admits the beneficial effects of larger foreign importations so far as an increase of wealth is concerned, yet, considering as indispensable the maintenance of its present military system, it is obliged consistently to refuse free trade.

The Don and the Volga are both frozen every year from about the beginning of December to the middle of March. When the navigation is no longer possible, very little produce arrives at Rostof, and the average quantity brought down by the sledges is insignificant, owing to the general unsteadiness of the weather. As the shallowness of the water makes the navigation of the Sea of Azof very difficult (by the Greeks and Romans it was called a marsh, and not a sea),⁠[283] it has naturally been felt that the emporium of goods for exportation should be at some place to which large ships can have access, after the difficulties of its navigation in coming from the interior of Russia have been passed. This led to the establishment of the quarantine at Kertch, as has been explained in a former chapter. It was thought that goods would be brought at leisure down the Azof by lighters, and that stores would be erected there, as they have been at Odessa, for the raw staple articles of exportation. For reasons that have been detailed, this expectation was not realized; and while in the year 1852 no less than 1606⁠[284] vessels with an average tonnage of about 250 tons passed the Straits of Kertch, and entered the Azof to take in their cargoes at some of its ports, a very small number stopped to be loaded at Kertch. As ships are obliged to stand out so far from the shore at the ports of the Azof, receiving their cargoes by degrees, and cannot be fully laden till they have passed the Straits of Kertch below Yenicáleh, there is a great employment of lighters in the Azof, which are manned chiefly by Cossacks of the Don and Little Russians. They are an inferior description of craft, and the rates they charge vary extremely according to the season.⁠[285]

In years when an unusually large amount of trade has been carried on, great inconvenience has been felt from the inadequate means of conveyance by water. The delays also in the arrival of the lighters, which sometimes take six weeks to come down the Azof, cause a great waste of time and capital. A plan has often been set on foot for having steam-tugs on the Azof, which would cause a great saving in time and expense, and might easily be effected, because the anthracite mines are very near Rostof. The failure of this and other beneficial projects must be attributed to the extreme scarcity of capital, and the languor attending all efforts at improvement under the restrictive regulations necessary in a despotic monarchy.

Such are a few remarks on the passage of goods down the Sea of Azof from the great producing countries of the north. The way in which they reach Rostof from the interior is by the noble river of the Don, which rolls its full tide of waters through the governments of Toola, Tambof, Orel, Woroneje, and the vast and fertile territory of the Don Cossacks. Toola is only about 150 miles to the south of Moscow, and there is therefore water communication with all the seas of the world within a short distance of the capital of Great Russia.⁠[286] But this is not the only river that feeds the commerce of Rostof. At about 125 miles from the mouth of the Don, by two happy bends in their course, the Volga and the Don approach within 45 miles of each other, and thus goods can be transported from the former to the latter river, and another vast circle of fertile regions can be drained of their produce for the southern market. As the Don runs through some of the most productive governments of Great Russia, so the Volga⁠[287] sweeps in a larger circle to the north and east, and rising in the ancient government of Tver, becomes navigable at about an equal distance from Moscow as the Don, describes a quarter of a circle round the town, and then, bending northwards into the government of Jaroslav, passes through Kostroma and Nijni Novgorod. At this celebrated place of Oriental traffic it effects its junction with the Oka, another artery of Great Russia, and then rolling its increased volume directly eastward to Kazan, the Tatar capital, it there changes its course to the south till it nearly meets the Don. The two rivers run for a short distance parallel to one another, till, suddenly diverging at right angles, the one falls into the Azof and the other into the Caspian Sea. At the point where the rivers nearly meet, Dubofka on the Volga is about 45 miles from Katchálin on the Don, and vast quantities of merchandise are yearly carried across by bullock-carts from one river to the other. The importance of their junction of course fixed the attention of Peter the Great, and it was one of his projects which he did not live to execute. The canal he ordered has never been dug; and thus one link is wanting in this magnificent system of river communication. If it were made, a great saving to merchants in time and money would be effected, and commerce proportionately increased.⁠[289]

From this short review of the countries which naturally depend upon Rostof as their port, and from the great lines of water communications which meet under its walls, it would appear that its commerce, although it has greatly increased, is not a twentieth part of what it ought to be, and that it is capable of an indefinite extension. The 40,000,000 of Slavonians round Moscow, which form the real heart and strength of the Russian Empire, send through it now a continually increasing portion of the produce of their labour, and would, if they could, receive through it innumerable articles which can be more advantageously produced in more civilised countries than their own. If free trade were allowed, this natural interchange would go on rapidly increasing to the benefit of both parties. At present the exports are great, but the Russian does not get nearly his full share of profit, owing to the necessity he is under of receiving to a considerable extent money instead of goods in payment. With this hard cash which he receives, for which Europe would gladly substitute manufactured goods, he is obliged to buy these latter articles made by his own countrymen of bad quality and high price. Thus a considerable amount of Russian labour and capital, which are so scarce in proportion to the opportunities for employing them, are consumed less profitably than they might be, in manufacturing these commodities, instead of developing the dormant resources of a most fertile soil.⁠[290] Still in the face of all these checks to a natural system of exchange, agricultural production has greatly increased of late years, and the beneficial effects of the change in our navigation laws, and the abolition of the duties on corn, have been very distinctly felt. English capital flows willingly to Russia, and, while there is the greatest difficulty in getting a few hundred thousand pounds for India, millions find their way to Russia, so that I was informed by the late General Duplat, who was for many years our Consul-General at Warsaw, that two years ago he had officially conveyed the offer of capitalists in London to the Russian Government to lay out 12,000,000l. for the construction of railways in Russia upon very moderate terms. The whole of the exports of Russia are raw produce, consisting of articles of first necessity in Europe, of which she can never send us too much. Her people are essentially agricultural and commercial, and not a martial race, as is generally supposed. It is a mistaken notion to suppose that the Russians are a military or warlike nation. To the eyes of Europe their military despotic government, with its grasping tendency to increase its territories by conquest, has given them a character which they do not deserve. The serfs and the lower classes are forced by the conscription into the ranks of the army, which experience has taught them to consider as the hardest fate they can meet with. Of the higher classes of society few devote themselves from taste to the military profession, but in order to maintain their station in the nobility, and to preserve its privileges to themselves and their heirs, they are obliged to serve the state for a certain number of years, until they obtain at least a subordinate rank, such as that of lieutenant. Thus among the officers possessed of landed property or independent fortunes, it is not surprising that there are many who view with disgust any event, such as war, which obliges them to remain in the army longer than they otherwise would have done. Kept in the ranks against their inclination, it is natural that on the field of battle when facing the enemy they are not moved by the same martial and stirring spirit which animates the officers of other armies.

It is not intended by these remarks to impeach the bravery of the Russian officers and soldiers, which would be absurd in the face of their former conduct in the French wars, and recently of their gallant defence of Sevastopol, but to account for their want of success when made to face in the open field the soldiers of two free nations.

The Russian merchant conducts his commercial operations with intelligence, and amongst them are some, who, without being able either to read or write, transact with singular ability and success an amount of business which, in more civilised countries, would require an experienced manager, assisted by a staff of experienced clerks.⁠[291] There is, likewise, no lack of enterprise in him; but the restrictive laws of the country, the obstacles placed in the way of intercourse with foreign lands, and the prohibitory duties charged on imports, prevent this spirit of enterprise from developing itself to its full extent. In no country do I believe would the effects of free trade be so rapidly felt, and tend more to ameliorate the physical and moral condition of the people.

All customs, all prohibitions, are drawbacks on the free or natural system of trade between nations; and it might even be contended that manufactures would be far more likely to spring up in Russia under such a system, than under the protective system now in force. If free trade were established, at first, undoubtedly, the Russians would buy foreign manufactures, but the price of all articles of consumption except the common necessaries of life would be immensely reduced, and an improved style of living would be possible among all classes. The agriculturists would get more for their produce, and be able to let us have it on cheaper terms; manufactures in our countries and agriculture in theirs would be much stimulated; roads would be made, the desert tracts cultivated; the population would be raised both morally and physically, and wealth gradually accumulated; until at first the coarser and then the finer manufactures were attempted in the natural progress of events, and with undoubted success. The Russian people, patient, laborious, admirable workmen, have nothing to fear from foreign competition. I have said elsewhere, that English masters find them inaccurate; but this I believe to proceed from no natural incapacity for accuracy, but from their not understanding the use of their work, from their want of general education, and the little inducement and encouragement that exist for improving their condition in their degraded social position.

It appears, then, from what I have said in this chapter, that the commerce of the Sea of Azof is rapidly increasing in importance; that the countries surrounding it are rich and, as yet, undeveloped; and that, from the fine system of river communication which reaches the sea at Rostof, it is constantly drawing towards it for shipment a larger portion of the productions of Great Russia. There cannot be a doubt that, when peace is restored, a great impetus will be given to its trade; that it will benefit by the increased movement that will probably take place on all the shores of the Black Sea; and, should the Russian Government wisely change its military policy, and allow its stout-hearted and enterprising subjects to pursue their natural industrious bent, capital and population will flock to the south, and Rostof and Kertch will rival the Tana and Panticapæum of ancient days. No restrictions will then be placed on those who wish to come and learn in Europe; no passports will be refused to enterprising young Russians who wish, in France or England, to gain that knowledge of the arts and sciences which is impossible in their own country; and no vulgar and ignorant censors will be placed at the gates of the empire to keep out books as the most dangerous enemies of the existing system, because the most valuable of them treat of truth and liberty. Russia will allow the fraternisation of her people with us, and admit the imports of more civilised countries as the surest way to increase her own commerce, and by these means she, as well as Turkey, will be really admitted into the European federation. Can it be said that she has been one of us as yet, when she has isolated her people, and kept gigantic armies hovering in what we may call with Ritter her territory of European Asia, to menace poor down-stricken, corrupted Germany on one, and the Asiatic nations on the other side? If she will really, once for all, fix the limits of her empire, and give up her menacing attitude and aggressive tendencies, she will not require a million of bayonets in time of peace; and we ought not to believe that she has changed her policy unless she consents to reduce her armies. This we know that on former occasions she has positively refused to do; let her be obliged to diminish them when peace shall be made, as the best guarantee for its future maintenance. If the peace party in England really wish for peace, they ought to urge this point, which will be far more useful than motions for the reduction of our own forces. For how can we safely reduce, with the enormous standing armies on the Continent, and how can the continental Powers reduce their forces, with a million of men always hovering over them, and ready to fall upon them without notice? Russia has said by her ambassadors that her position is exceptional, and for that reason she cannot reduce like other powers. Why is her position exceptional? This she has not condescended to tell us. Her people is the most peaceable in the world, and the troops cannot be wanted to coerce them. Indeed, it is notorious that there are hardly any troops in Great Russia, the most thickly peopled and important part of the empire. There is only one infantry corps stationed at Moscow out of ten corps which compose the whole army. Where are the rest of her forces stationed? There where she expects to make conquests. They are distributed fan-shape round the European edge of the Russian empire, from the Baltic to the Black Sea, that they may overawe Germany, and advance to support one another in any move upon Turkey; while 170,000 men are kept in the Caucasus to root out the principles of liberty and extend Asiatic conquests.⁠[292] Can any man believe that 400,000 men are kept in Poland merely to coerce the shattered, prostrate form of that unfortunate kingdom? Is there not a sufficient guarantee for Russian possession of it in the share which Austria and Prussia accepted of the spoil? When Austria and Prussia offered to reduce their armies, and Russia refused to reduce hers, was it because she wanted so large a force for self-defence? This was evidently impossible; and the army in Poland was required, not to prevent a rising of the Poles, but to support a Russian influence in Germany which has been most detrimental to the best interests of that country. If we wish, then, for permanent peace, the Russian army ought surely to be reduced, and who would benefit more by this measure than the inhabitants of Russia themselves? See how they hate the army; look at the miseries which the conscription entails upon them; observe how large a portion of the resources of the empire is wasted to support it, and think if those millions of capital created yearly by human labour were laid out in permanent improvements instead of being unproductively consumed, how great would be the increase to Russia in wealth and intelligence! There is, I believe, no good result from war which may not better be brought about by peace; but, as we are engaged in this tremendous contest, let us hope, when peace shall at length be made, and perhaps the last great knot in human affairs resolved which prevents the even progress of the world to its destined termination, that as many nations will be freed as are able to enjoy a rational liberty, and that peace may be secured on such a basis, with such guarantees for its continuance, that future difficulties may be resolved by some form of national arbitration.