A FREER SYSTEM OF TRADE IN RUSSIA.

Grey River Argus, Volume XV, Issue 1856, 17 July 1874, Page 2

A FREER SYSTEM OF TRADE IN RUSSIA.

'.'.' ' [MFiBOtnBNE AKffUS]" '^ If there* are nbsigns^df -a breaking down of protection in Russia, there, is at least the exhibition of a tendency — to a freer system =of ■■ trade.'- 3 Several things have contributed to this, and there are some others at %Drk now which will probably help to keeji Hl alive. Russia's railway system^ for which she had to come intorthe market /..asr a aboraoTwer, has!brought:;her, into closer l'connlctioa witK other nations, and- she cannot be'unaware 5 of the_ rapid strides 'England is •making under the -I ree )( ttade. But the part she took in , the Vienna Ex- . hibition, and the more receipt visit of the Emperor of Austria to the Czari at-i St. Petersburg, have brought? this i 'tendency into greater prominence, particularly the latter, At this visit, as the result of the : commerciar|)Ottr-2?arZerS' 1 b r etweißri !: tfie ■ two Emperorsj a -mixed ! c6intnissibn ;ii W3^ ap- . pointed to take info, cpnsideration,certain .modifications, .and, impro.^emfents^inj the commercial,,'; intercourse ,';> £f countries, 'such commission' to ( meet"4t St. : Peteraburg.-; ;3?his shows the , existence of a disposition on the part of Russia ysp aobandonthelyery exclusive grpunolpn which she has hiiiiertOi prided herself f Kajt^ough the modifications and improvements soughtf probably: : cQriginatedn with the .Court of jiY^enna-pltj mav, at any rate, 4 pro'oHhat' tnere_are_.some points on whichTthe.Czar thinks an agreement between the' two countries with regafdi to matters'* .possible. ;■ The apporntmeatof such aicommission, whatever its results, is one pfthosejevents in the history of Russia not l to be ,over- ' looked, Its imporjtance.nAist iipt ;bj^ estimated by theprobabieefect^consenting to such an appointment' 'by'Wahy other country^ bat by the 'departure involved in it from the settled an dllong-established policy of Russia herself. —In-cherwadher-ance to a protective t policy, she does nqt plead, as the protectionists of Victoria, of .the - United States, ; jajid ,spme pother countries, plead, that ~ tMa Visthej| true method , . .according, jf o'.the nrost, Approved economical principles,' of additig^tg the wealth of> the country ; r but only, that she has a.poliQy : Qf herrowntq.wprfc gut.in a trade aa, a nation, just/as, she baa' in war lor oonquest, ; and that shercan [afford to dispense with the^ebbnomies ;which others profess to be guided. But that in itself gives a greater sigriificaMtto the step she, hag;^now iaken,, ;which v win^ if it should result in a commercial Compact between herself and" Austria, be. a striking innovation oh her, farmer ' national fpolicy, and may lead ; to similar compacts between herself and^^ other ; '^nila^ly'.lt^myst not ;be inferred : from this that , no facilities have.eyer r be^n grantejiby., Russia, to another l state with regard to one , or another article, but that., only such concessions .h^ye':-'-:-neyer:-ltefore : T /TOen'-:z!e|erre^- a, mixed commission. Th.ey hav.e always, b§en njade by jnstr^gtion? to thg - awton; houses,, ap^^^ CQuldijiß reybkedibyti^ Ruagia^n Government 'at pteaaure/'witHont the infraction, of- an intercolonial.' stipulation. ,If should^ however, .enter, into a treaty wrfchAuStipia Tvith regardV to ,traie across her' frontier,' th^, whole 'aspejet of {things wpuld be changed.' ; Throughout a :long ;course of yeara, protectipnj m, Russia has formed part of her whole financial, political^ "national, and colonial system, and no alteration can be made in that part' without*"effecting the -whole. — Once let the system- : as :a;whole be disturbed, and there is no saying to what that diaiufbancei will lead: The effect iolE any alterations, however slight, it would be to predict with any- certainty. We. attach more importance, then, to the appointment of .this mixed commission tljan wf otherwisg §^p,uld oi^ grounds, and onfiomeotJieia to be notiged hereafter. Jffither^p Russia has treated the customs question 5 as a purely internal one, , not admitting of any foreign interference, nor to be regulated by consideiations of ;thejitrade-;ioft:^ny other country; the modifications and improveirients iii'the customs ; 'system on her frontier submitted to the mixed cbmmisi^ sion is clearly an abnegation of ( that principle.' does not i^ow of foreign inter ference i^tKis .case, rand^.pp . dbubt has her ! rb|ion9 for ihis/' Opinions differ very much in^Russia, as in bther'countriea, on the question l of prbteotioni and' since her

intercourse with other countries has been less restricted, owing to the development of her railway system, and that of Continental Europe generally, it is reasonable to suppose that some notions of the benefits 61 a sounder and freer commercial policy have found their way into that country. They may even have so permeated all classes of the community as to have reached the ' Government, and to have had their influence, unconsciously perhaps, in that quarter. This is certain, at all events,- that there is great dissatisfaction in Russia with some of the heavy customs duties, and that those most affected by them reason just as soundly, and express themselves quite ,as indignantly on the subject, as do people in other countries under similar circumstances. Take foreign wines, charged with an ad valorem duty of 150 per cent., lest their consumption should interfere with the duty on spirits, and so curtail the revenue and lessen the profits of the agriculturist. Against this sacrifice of moral to fiscal and financial considerations the protest is very general. Even the protectionist admit that it is indefensible, and ask why they should be compelled to drink spirits when they would prefer wine if within their reach ? So with regard to the products of other countries which come into competition with her own, but where the question of morals does not so forcibly come in, the people are beginning to ask why they should be sacrificing their time and money in the production of that for which thecountry has no specialty ? When lighc thus breaks in on the minds of a people, the most absolute of government have to yield, although they may only do so by little and little. But there are other grounds, to which we attach more importance than we otherwise should to the appointment, of this mixed commission, besides those involved in its being a palpable divergence from Russia's declared national policy. Russia has long been doing secretly what she proposes by means of this commission to do more openly, and in her recent action towards Austro-Hungry, virtually binds herself to secure for that country all she has done for the benefit of others secretly! Let us explain ourselves. She has for a long course of years, as has already been stated, actually been granting, first to one country, and then to another, a re laxation of her customs regulations, first with respect to this article, and next with respect to that, through instructions direct from the Government to the custom house authorities, but always with the understanding that these instructions should be kept secret, as though desiroiis of leading others to believe that concessions distinctly authorised had simply arisen from the regulations having been overlooked, for which subordinates, who might be called to account at any moment, alone were responsible. This is not stated on any slight ground, however great the belief in it may be a tax on our credulity, neither is it unknown, or even only partially known, to those having large trading transactions with her. But, ■without entering into any tariff connections, to which she has ever hitherto been decidedly averse, Russia has lately made this concession to Austro-Hungary, that she shall be placed on the footing of " the most favoured of nat'ons " with regard to any facilties for trade, or favour in the mode of conducting it. "The most favoured of nations " may seem an empty phrase in the mouth of a country which arrogates to itself the position of being the " only high contracting partyj" and reserves to itself the right of revoking any concession made at will; but it is not without significance in connection -with past and present events. With regard to facilities for trade, Russia places herself so far by this at the feet of Aiißtro- Hungary in any court of honour, her traditional national policy to the contrary notwithstanding. Any known concession by Russia to any other countty Austro'-HUngary can rightfully claim, whether a concession already made and still in force, or any arising out of the meeting of the mixed commission. ' How,. yielding, as we must do, to Russia the right of framing a policy for herself, and of adhering to it, we cannot overlook these facts— that she is placed in ' a very different position with regard to protection to what we are here, that she carries it out aiter a very different fashion, and that, so far frcim ; regarding it as immutable, she is giving pleasing indication of a change for the better. The position of Russia with regard to protection is this. First, she has a vast territory, and her aim has ever been to make it as self-con-tained and independent of other countries as possible. Next, she has always been ambitious of supplying her own millions along the northern portion of Asia to the Amoor, with all they required in the way of manufactories ; and she is now supplying, the wants of the wide-spreading tribes of Central Asia to the north of China. This has made her comparatively indifferent to the trade of the West, and she has consequently had the less compunction in shutting it out by protective duties, amounting in some caßes almost to a positive prohibition. As the natural and inevitable sequence, she has been reduced to the necessity of " fostering native industry "to an extent never before ,carr4gd by. any civilised nation. The Russian Government has, for years past, been spending large sums in the erection of manufactories ; and, in shutting out cheap manufactures, has therefore , not been protecting its own manufactures merely, but has been protecting itself, the great manufacturer. For this the plea is, not as with our protectionists, that the best way of enriching a country is to impoße restrictions on its trade, but that Russian goods pave the way for Russian arms', and that Russia's protective pr prohibitive system must) b$ tak§n as part and parcjsj pf fcer system . of political extentionin the East. This is carrying things a step farther than England went when she insisted on the monopoly of the • trade of her colonies, not allowing the ships of foreign nations to trade to them, and forbidding them to import goods from foreign nations. But the principle i§ the. same, and we should not greatly blame Russia, perhaps, for doing in 3874, what England persisted in doing in 1774, much to her discredit at the time, although ultimately greatly to her^jjgnefit. However, Russia seems to be awakening to a sense of the errors of the past, so far as we can judge from the appointment of this mixed commission, with its surrounding circumstances, and we commend what is taking place to the careful consideration of those who are still hanging on to the skirts of protection as exhibited in Russia, and in the United States, albeit in a different form from their own, and advocated on very dissimilar grounds!

We must not, however, nourish any such illusions as that Russia is about to throw open her frontier to free trade all at once,, because she has consented to the appointment of tins commission of the adjustment of differences between herself and Austria, and far the promotion of a sounder and freer basis of trade between the two countries. Change works its way slowly, especially when it affects the general policy of a country, and it may be expected to work the more slowly in this rjase, because any change in one part involves a change in the whole. Free trade must have its infancy, youth, and manhood in all countries, the time required for its growth being in some degree proportioned to what it is to supplant, and it is precisely because too much is not promised in this case that we regard it as the more hopeful. If Russia is not quite so far advanced as England was when Huskisson first made his voice heard on behalf of free trade in the British Parliament, to which a renegade freetrader recalled our attention the other day, she soon will be, and when she once sets out earnestly in a free trade direction, she will have for her guidance the experience of those who have gone before her. This will be no small advantage, and her progress may, on that account, be all the more rapid. Asyetwehavenotsaida word aboutafree system of trade between Russia and England, chiefly because -fchat forms no part of the subject remitted for the consideration of the mixed commission. But the late visit of the Czar to England is the strongest proof that we could have of the friendly feelings engendered between the two royal house-holds by the alliance of his only daughter to one of the sons of the Queen of England ; and if the sitting of the mixed commission should be as productive of good to Russia and Austria as is anticipated, some steps may be taken before long whereby England will be admitted to a' share in the benefit. This mnst come at any rate, sooner or' later, and we must not be discouraged by the delay, or apparent tardiness or incomr pleteness in the attempts to effect it. The tendency to a renunciation of protection and the adoption of a free-trade policy isa world-wide tendency. ;