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Leader (1850-1860), 25th September 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1009, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      sSSSSSSk ? taassssE ?*? &ons at Euro ^ aa rates , the public Works ^ pf Indu would now be in a very different state from what tbey are described by Major-General Tremenheere and Colonel SS , who can o ' nly offer an apology for the " ***> % » of the Government , instead of being able to claim the praise of extensiveachievemeht 3 . They can ^ -ly Po , nt

      _ _ to one work of such men as Cantley , when the country wants a score ; and the time has now ccrnie , with the new organisation of the Committee of Pnbhc Wqrk 9 , to enable the great administrators and great engineers of India to carry out many a deferred and long-neglected work . In this direction the specific operations of the Cotton Supplv Association will be found greatly conducive to success , and a legitimate popularity will be obtained bv the Council of India in promoting at one and the same time the interests of the mother country and of the colony .

      Untitled Article

      ! Articles 2 nd , 3 rd > and 4 th , arrange for the permanent residence at the Court of Pekin of a British Minister , his fam il y 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 1 . 1 , so that , in summing up our present position , as secured by the Elgin treaty , it is just this : all parts of the interior may be visited for pleasure or trade under passport . The metropolis of the ot uri

      empire is open for the residence a usn 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 langtse-kiang and along the entire coast of China , where our merchant ships may lie , and in which our consuls and merchants with their families may reside . " What can we want beside ? Nothing else . Tt will be seen that of the nine new ports , 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 ' usuall y 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 aboriginal 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 traders from

      paragraph of the expulsion of Dutch 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 aiid settled down . They endeavoured to exert and extend their influence over the aboriginals , described as . uncouth ; &c ,, by trading , intermarriage , 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 " -ladly received by the Dutch , who , however , subsequently began to regret their courteous readiness to ¦ " entertain strangers , " and commenced to institute a rigorous cheek on fresh arrivals , ¦

      As the Mantchoo throne was being settled , a piratical chieftain appeared on the 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 has 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 . O&the fourth and fifth additions to the seaboard ports open to European commerce , we can speak but briefly and cautiously . The one , written Tang-ohow , but pronounced < $ VAnglaise Tongue -chow , is somewhere about 900 miles north ot Formosa , and 170 south of the Pei-ho , situate on the Shantung 1 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 chiefly ; 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 /»» proper aiid east of the " ten thousand lee wall , " having vast connexions with the Mongol , Mantohoo , 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 gulf , and at the mouth of the ltiver Linou ; but , without confusing the reader with further geographical minutico , it belongs to the Mantohooria division of the colonial possessions of " Heaven ' s son . " The native trade is said to bo flourishing

      Jvoro ,, ft 8-wo-niay-supposo , ^ r . OJ » Jits ~ pQ 3 ition- a ^ dJ ¥ t- — lations ; and wo may hope that foreign traffic , m woollens particularly , will succeed , although our rivals nre already in tho field , and long hovo been in tho neighbourhood—the Russians . . Wo hwvo above attempted oursorily to pome out and desoribo tho ( Ivo now ports oponod to foreign trado upon tho coast of ChUia . Tho opening of tho Yang-tso-kiang , and tJio noh ports Upon its banks , must form the tliome of ft subsequent article .

      are four along the banks of the Yang-tss-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 Hvc ports upon the coast , specified under Article 11 , viz - ~; Niu-chwang , Tang-chow , Tai-wan , Swa-tow , and Kiung-chow . 1 . To begin with the most southerly , Kiungchow . This is situated in . the province of Quangtun" and on the northern face of the island of Haitianat the mouth of the river Le-moo , which

      , rises about 100 miles up in the centre of thfe island . Kiung-chow itself is the chief town on the island , and , being what in Chinese topography is described as of the departmental order , it holds jurisdiction over 13 minor district towns , besides numberless villages and fishing hamlets . The port itself lies in 19 " deg . 66 mill , south latitude , and 110 deg . L 5 min . east longitude , and as each place of consequence has its precise distance marked off in the imperial " Ked'bodk , " Kiung-chow is put down as at a convenient remove of 2500 miles from

      the dragon throne at Pekin . Facing it is the mamland , from which it is divided 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 , aud partially occupied oy independent tribes which acknowledge no submission to Chinese rule . These , probably , are the Aborigines ; but from the large influx of Canton and Fuhkien 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 surprise us to find that they are given to 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 . Whalos aro also found off the coast of the island . It is not far from Cochin-China , and is , as we have said , close to tho continent and opposito the provinces of Kwangoi and Qunng-tung .

      CHINA : WHAT OF THE NEWLY OPENED PORTS ? T . HB m , pst sanguine . have been , startled and the worst of croakers dumbstruck by the Elgin treaty with Kwei-liang and Co ., tho tone and terms of which really tlmny open tho entire empire of China . The rough outline of that treaty , as circulated in ouv journals , embraces fifty-six separate urtioles ; and in glanoing at those it will bo obvious to anyouo conversant with tho history of foreign intercourso with Ghina that each concession on the purl of tho Chinese Government is a renunciation of some dear projudico , and a step—whet liur buckwurds # r forwards—a atop in the right direction . To point out tho articles which distinctly define IflffiMM , ^ by whiOhTtliough with passports , ' British subjects are to bo permitted to travel for pleasure or trade to utt parts of tho interior . Thu ii . : ps uro our ow » nor do wo givo tho turms from i . ; ' -nl umiumnuts , ' but as thoy appear in our period ¦ .. » proas : ami it , is nofc our purposo at present to . » ml on this ( lio most important proviso on I , lie lis ' y !> . y wliioh ovi ? ry barrier is broken thai ; lias hitherto' opposed iVue ingress of foreigners " for trade or lor pleasure . "

      Tlio 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 m that neighbourhood is subjoot . Besides this harbour , there aro several others on tho southern coast of the island , 2 . Two days' sail north of Hong-Kong wo have another new port , named by us , according to the 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 # «» lvK'i < M » i ^ lVont / ieiv-- ^ It / S ~ nanio- ^ hitho « to « lms-. ap »« - poarod on low published maps . Here there is a niou , convenient bay for shipping ; and already , \ vUhout lot , or hiuurunoo , a largo trado between foreigners and natives has boon established . Sugar is produced in grcnt , quantities in the surrounding mm 11 try ; and , as tho const of Formosa lies right opposite , the trado huhvonn tlio two points is frequent and growing . Swa-tow town is only about 100 miles distant from Canton , to which city thoro

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      Untitled Article

      — -+ — 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 , 101 tons less in last August than in August , 1857 , the trade in the month was large and sound . All these items were considerably in excesjMn the month over the averages of the same items in 1856 , 1857 , and the eight months of 1858 , . andj-jke value of the exports and the shipping entered j ^^ Lrds ' . were in excess of the same items m August ^^^ pS . Our trade , then , continues steadily to ineij ^^^ Choug h it knows nothing of the feverish excfl ^^ Vt which . prevailed in August of the two pret ^^^ B ycars . Of the priiipaL imports , coffee , cof f < J ^^^ B ; at , flour , hemp , jute , sugar , and tobacco wcM ^^^ K ' xcess in the month . compared to tile imp IJ ^^ V August , 1857 ; the other principal impor a ^^ Bilk , timber , wool , &c , were deficient . The r Hj ^ M value of cottons , both doth and yarn , of . ri ' ¦ brought iron , of lead , of stationery , of m *?? O- . v ^^ fis . and wor sted ^ stuffs ,, exported , was greater fiPKA . ugust , 1 S 58 , than m the August 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>— 1 B 56 . 1857 . 1858 . 10 . 753 , 292 / . 11 , 638 , 805 / . 11 , 134 , 763 / . And iii the eight months of the three years—1856 . 1857 . 1853 . 74 , 689 , 934 / . 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 185 G . 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 the temporary feeling of 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 .

      Untitled Article

      ^ ,,, o ^^ 25 . 1858 . 1 THE lEArlK 1009

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 25, 1858, page 1009, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2261/page/25/