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„. ... c™™*™ 25.1858,1 THE i E A D E It....
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"jfl'trt*«frtrtillit < iV** V /fPrttt.tinAt*i*tnI ^tztlUlUUU UUU ViUMIUUIlllUU : ¦
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V THE TRADE OF AUGUST. Though the declar...
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CHINA : WHAT OF THE NEWLY OPENED PORTS? ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Cotton Movement. Among The Influence...
be a freehold land tenure , an improvement of the landiLsyttom , English law , English administrator * EngiSh in the law-courts ; railways , steamboats , roads , canals , irrigation , and harbours . These works it has been the with of the best Indian administrators to supply and had they been able to raise a loan of a hundred tailliona at ' European rates , the public works of India would now be in a very different atate from what they are described by Major-General Tremenheere and Colonel Sykes , who can only offer an apology for the intentions of the Government , instead of being able to claim the praise of extensive achievements . They can only point to one work of such men as Cautley , when the country wants a score ; and the time has now come , with the new organisation of the Committee of Pnblic Works , to enable the great administrators and great engineers of India to carry out marty a deferred and long-neglected work . In this direction the specific operations of the Cotton Supply Association will be found greatly conducive to success , and a legitimate popularity will be obtained by the Council of India in promoting at one and the same time the interests of the mother couutry and of the colony .
„. ... C™™*™ 25.1858,1 The I E A D E It....
„ . ... c ™™*™ 25 . 1858 , 1 THE i E A D E It . J _ 1009
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Jfimiuiiih ntiir Cnmiiiwial .
V The Trade Of August. Though The Declar...
V THE TRADE OF AUGUST . Though the declared value of the exports was 504 , 042 / . less , the . shipping entered inwards 13 , 495 tons less , and the shipping cleared outwards 25 , 161 tons less in last August than in August , 1857 , the trade in the month was large and sound . All these items were considerably in . excess in the month over the averages of the same items in 1 S 56 , 1 S 57 , and the eight months of 1858 , and the value of the exports and the shipping entered inwards were in excess of the same items m August , 1 S 56 . Our trade , then , continues steadily to increase , though it knows nothing of the feverish excitement which prevailed in August of the two preceding years . Of the prinpal imports * coffee , cotton , wheat , flour , hemp , jute , sugar , and tobacco were in excess in the month compared to the imports in August , 1857 : the other principal imports , as silk , timber * wool , & c ., were deficient . The declared value of cottons , both cloth and yarn , of cast and wrought iron , ofleaa ot stationery , of mixed woollens and worsted stutis , exported , was greater in August , 1858 , than in the Angust of 1857 ; but in the value of almost all other exports in the month there was a decline . The total declared value of exports in August was— . „„ 1856 . 1857 . 1858 . 10 , 753 , 2927 . 11 , 638 , 805 ? . 11 , 134 , 763 / . And in the eight months of the three years—1856 . 1857 . 1858 . 74 , 689 , 9347 . 84 , 666 , 718 / . , 75 , 596 , 564 / . While the average deficiency , as compared to 1857 , is upwards of 1 , 100 , 000 / . per month , the deficiency this month is only 504 , 042 / , at the same time the total value of exports is greater than in 1850 . Our trade , then , though sound and good , approaches the extensive trade of 1857 , which , till after August of that year , was in an excited and unsound state . Tho dulness which is continually complained of is less deficiency of vitality and vigour than tho temporary feeling ot languor which follows too much excitement . Other demands on our columns compel us to limit ourselves to this brief notice of the trade of August .
China : What Of The Newly Opened Ports? ...
CHINA : WHAT OF THE NEWLY OPENED PORTS ? The most sanguine have been startled and the worst of croakers dumbstruck by the Elgin treaty with Kwei-liang mid Co ., the tone und terms of which really throw open the entire empire of China . The rough outline of that treaty , as circulated in our journals , embraces fifty-six separate articles ; and in glancing at these it will be obvious to anyone conversant with the history of foreign intercourse , with China that each concession on the part of tho Chinese Government ; is a renunciation of some dear prejudice , and a stop-r— whether backwards r forwards—a step in the right direction . To point out the articles which distinctly define territorial openings in China , observe Article 9 i h , by which , though with passports , ' British subjects are to be permitted to travel for pleasure or i . ruclc to all parts of tho interior . Tho it iii '<'• . ure our own , nor do wo give the tonna from oll ' i I doutuiujul . s , but as they apppar in our periodic press : mnl ii is not our purposo at present , Iq i ! ill on this I lie moat important ; proviso on tlie list , hv which ovrry barrier is broken Mint , has hitherto opposed i ' ree ingress of foreigners "for trado or for pleasure "
Articles 2 nd , 3 rd , and 4 th , arrange for the permanent residence at the Court of Pekin of a British Minister , his family and suite , and make provision for his travelling , & c . And Article 52 nd concedes that any British ship of war may visit any port in the empire , and that the commander of said ship is to be treated on terms of equality by the Chinese officials of that port . The arrangements for trade and commerce are that , in addition to the ports already ceded , nine more shall be opened . This is ' laid down in Articles 10 and 11 , so that , in summing up our present position , as secured by the Elgin treaty , it is just this : all parts of the ulterior may be visited for pleasure or trade under passport . The metropolis of the
empire is open for the residence ot a jsntisn ambassador , and his family and suite . Any port may be entered by a British man-of-war ; and , besides the possession of Hong-Kong , there are fourteen Chinese trading ports on the banks of the Yangtse-kiang and along the entire coast of China , where our merchant shijjs may lie , and in which our consuls and merchants with their families may reside . What can we want beside ? Nothing else . It will be seen that of the nine new ports , there are four along the banks of the Yang-tse-kiang . To these we will not now call attention ; as it is
our special purpose to detail a -few particulars , interesting to our commercial readers , as to the situation , relations , and trade of the other -five ports upon the coast , specified under Article 11 , viz . — - Niu-chwarig , Tang-chow , Tai-wan , Swa-tow , and Kiung-chow . 1 . To begin with the most southerly , Kiungchow . This is situated in the province of Quangtung and on the northern face of the island of Hainan , at the mouth of the river Lie-moo , which rises about 100 miles up in the centre of the island . Kiung-chow itself is the chief town on the island , aud , being what in Chinese topography is described as of the departmental order , it holds
jurisdiction over 13 minor district towns ., besides numberless villages arid fishing hamlet ? . The port itself lies in 19 deg . 56 min . south latitude , and 110 deg . 15 min . east longitude , and as each place of consequence has its precise distance marked off in the imperial " Bed-took , " Kiung-chow is put down as at a convenient- remove of 2500 miles from the dragon throne at Pekin . Facing it is the mainland , from which it is diyided by a strait 16 miles in breadth , made dangerous by sandbanks and reefs . The importance of this new port may be judged from the position and products of the islands to which it belongs .
The island of Hainan is , perhaps , double the size of Sicily . Its central parts are very mountainous , and partially occupied Dy independent tribes which acknowledge no submission to Chinese rule . These , probably , are the Aborigines ; but from the large influx of Canton and Euhkien immigrants , there has arisen an enormous host of settlers that number over a million and a half . As the latter belong to progenitors of an enterprising class , it does not surto
prise us to find that they arc given commerce and sea-life as well as to piracy . The soil throughout is exceedingly fertile , and the productions are very much after the order of the Indian Archipelago , such as fine timber cocoa-nuts , rice , sweet potato , tobacco , white wax ( from an insect ) , sugar , & c . Whales are also found olf the coast of the island . It is not far from Cochin-China , and is , as we have said , close to the continent and opposite the provinces of Kwangoi and Quang-tung .
The harbour of Kiung-chow is reported by foreign visitors as excellent , and the anchorage has been tested to bo very good in rough weather , to which , at certain seasons , the sea in that neighbourhood is subject . Besides this harbour , there arc several others on tho southern coast of the island . 2 . Two days' sail north of Hong-Kong we have another new port , named by us , according to the local patois , Swa-tow . This ( in tho mandarin
pronunciation Shan-tow ) is a rising seaport , on a promontory in Quan-tung , close verging on the Fiibh Kiou frontier . Its name hitherto has appeared on few published maps . Hero thero is a nice , convenient bay for shipping ; and alroady , ulilimit let or hindrance , a largo trade between j . > ' \ jigu rs and natives has been established . Sugar is pi'jduccd in groat quantities in tho surrounding country ; and , as tho coast of Formosa lios right opposiir , I lie trade between tho two points is fro-(| iiont and growing . Swa-tow town is only about iOO miles distant lrom Canton , to which , pity there
is a direct canal communication . Several foreign merchants have established connexions for some time at this port . It came into notice at first as a principle point from which coolies were hired , and shipped to distant colonies . 3 . Some 200 miles south-eastward of this is the port of Tai-wan , which also figures prominently on the table of concessions made by the Chinese plenipos . Tai-wan is a name usually given by the natives to the whole island which we ( barbarians )
call Formosa , though properly it belongs only to the Chinese division . The Chinese jurisdiction extends over but one half of it , and that the Western face , separated from the eastern by a mountainous ridge running up through the middle of the island . This portion measures some 280 miles in length , by 80 in breadth ; the other section being principally occupied by abori g inal clans which claim , entire independence . The city and harbour of Taiwan lie on the south-western point of the island This port is described by foreign visitors as commodious . The rice trade between it and the maritime provinces of China employs a numerous fleet of
native craft , and other products are likely to encourage foreigners , seeing the whole island is exceedingly rich and fertile . Sugar , coal , and fine timber are spoken of as special products . Our readers will forgive us , that we insert here a brief paragraph of the expulsion of Dutch traders from this very seaport , precisely two hundred years ago , and before t e Chinese had one tittle of claim to it . The Dutch went to Tai-wan in 1624 ; and in course of time they made this port their
headquarters and settled down . They endeavoured to exert and extend their influence over the aboriginals , described as tuicOuth , & c ,, by trading , intermarr iage , and proselytising-. About that period the Chinese Ming dynasty was overthrown , which event drove thousands of Chinese families from the continent They emigrated into Formosa , and were at first gladly received by the Dutch , who , noweyer , subsequently began to regret their courteous readiness to " entertain strangers , " and commenced to institute a rigorous check on fresh arrivals .
As the Mantchoo throne was beingssefctkd r _ a _ piratical chieftain appeared oiTTiUe state .. He is known to some readers of Chinese history as the Chinaman Coxinga . His objects were twofold , to defy the Mantchoo , and to drive out the Dutch . He succeeded in the second ; and so ended the Dutch rule in the year 1658 , after a brief space of scarcely forty years . But upon this the Mantchoo-Chinese authorities pressed hard upon Coxinga , expelled him in his turn , and shortly after were successful in establishing the rule of the new dynasty on the western section of Formosa . Ever since there lias been a succession of emigrants from the mainland , by whose industry the once desolate island has become a well cultivated country , and deservedly bears the name Formosa . Of the fourth and fifth additions to the seaboard
ports open to European commerce , we can speak but briefly and cautiously . The one , written Tang-chow , but pronounced a VAnglaise Tongue-chow , is somewhere about 900 miles north ot Formosa , and 170 south of the Pei'ho , situate on the Shantung promontory , perhaps 50 or 60 miles inside this famous point , and washed by the waters of the Chihli Gulf . The Shantung people here are described , at least the males , as ot a strapping grenadier order , as well as industrious . The exports are grains chieHvi but
an appetite for foreign trade will have to be excited here , which may be done with success in judicious and skilful hands . Niu-chwang is a seaport in China improper aud east of the " ten thousand lee wall , " Imfwg vast connexions with th , e Mongol , Mantchoo , Kirin and Corean tribes , and not far away from the encroaching frontiers of * ' Russia in China . " It is at the head of the Liaon-tung gul f , and at the mouth of the River Liaou ; ut , without confusing the reader with further geographical minutiae , it belongs to tho Mantoliooria division of the colonial possessions of " Heaven ' s
son . " The native trade is said to bo flourishing hero , as wo may suppose , from its position and relations ; and wo may hope that foreign trafflo , in woollons particularly , will succeed , although our rivals arc alroady in tho fiold , and long have boon in tho neighbourhood—tho Russiaus . Wo havo abovo attempted cursorily to point out and describe tho uvo now ports oponod to loroign trado upon tho ooast of Chilm . Vie opening of tho Yang-tso-kiang , and tlio rich ports upon its banks , must form the theme of ft subsequent artiole .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 25, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25091858/page/25/
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