THE NEW TREATY BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LVI, Issue 6504, 31 December 1881, Page 5

THE NEW TREATY BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA.

The Treaty of Bt Petersburg, which has jn*t solved «a unpleasant difficulty sad averted a war that could not bat have proved unfortunate fox both sides, is the latest and moat striking corroboration of a fact which has been set down sometimes as an idle , decani of ambition, and sometimes as (ha equally futile speculation of the theorist, for, after the restoration of the Province of Kuldja is agreed to and sanctioned, the re* 1 mainmg clauses, not only of this Treaty, but also of the equally voluminous regulations for the land trade which accompany the prineipel instrument, relate exclusively to the conditions under which the commercial relations of the two countries are for the future to be conducted. Among the principal concessions made in favour of Bussia must be placed the granting of a second point of passage through tbs Great Wall. Prom the time of the Treaty of Nerchinsk, nearly two hundred years ago, Bussian merchants have been only allowed to proceed from Kiaohta into China through Kalgan, a town situated to the north-west of Pekin. They are sow to be accorded the right to use another gate, that at Kin Tu Kwan, or Souehow. Bouohow is hardly likely to prove for many years to come the emporium of any considerable trade, although its position < on the ancient caravan route from the States of Hawaranahar to China must always entitle it to some rank among the few wretched towns that have been saved in this region from the wreck of successive ware and insurrections. But even this concession, which may beheld to be the most important con* tained in this Treaty, since it is .the most distinct departure from the established rule, is rendered of uncertain value by the stipulation which the Chinee* have attached to it. Souohow is to be "the terminus of the Banian caravans," and beyond that point they will not be permitted to proceed. .Considering the position of this town, the actual condition of the surrounding country, and the remoteness of the spot from the oeotre of Chinese wealth and commercial activity, the admission of Hustisn caravans to Souehow does not appear calculated to revolutionise the existing external trade, or to throw its monopoly into the bands of energetic traders from Tobolsk or Nijnl Novgorod. It is true that Bussia la also to have the right of stationing a consul there, and at Turfan, in addition to several other places mentioned in the treaty negotiated at Kuldja in 1861» but even consul* cannot bring trades and the Kussians will have reason to feel grateful if out of the small traffic that is alone possible with the scanty population of’Kuldja, Kashgaria and the neighbouring States, they succeed in making a small and hard • earned profit. In the matter of Central Asian trade, Session merchants may be disposed, like the rest of mankind, to give undue importance to the unknown. But the facts reject the colouring, of Imagination i and although Bussia has obtained by this treaty some very pleasant verbal concessions and numerous diplomatic rights in a region where even nomadic tribes find it bard enough to gain a sustenance, there it extremely little probability of any glowing expectations receiving an early realisation. The Chinese are too practical to dispute about the shadow when they have obtained the substance j and it is etracgely significant to know that at the very moment when China is sanctioning the establishment of "a free and unrestricted trade” with Bussia her authorities in Central Asia are actively engaged on schemes to render their now possessions entirely independent of foreign commerce. It teems strange that Bussia should be so easily satisfied, especially when we recollect how vigorous weke her preparations _ last year to exhibit her power on the Chinese coast, and in the direction of the Cowan peninsula. Nor does it quite follow that because Bussia has waived her pretensions in Central Asia in deference to the rights of China iho will be equally comlderate in other quarters. It is said—and there is mush evidence to support the statement —that Bussia wants a harbour open throughout the year on the Pacific. .She thought she bad obtained what she wonted thirty years ago at Nieolaiovsk, hut she was doomed to disappointment. Her next experiment,Tladlvostoek—the vaunted Dominion ia the East—has not proved more successful j and no wlt appears that Bussia meditates taking a farther stride towards the more genial regions of the south. Port Zastreff,

on the Coretn coast, opposite to Vladivostook, is the coveted spot) and if It only come* up to it* reputation, it should prove a most advantageous and formidable naval station. Other point* are suggested by Ihi* treaty for deliberate consideration, but it ie not without importance to find that one of the principal clause* in the t rade Begulation* prohibits the import of opium, a similar clause was inserted in China’s recent treaty with the United States. True it is that neither Boseia nor America export opium i but its special prohibition in there treaties mmy bs indicative of m intention on tho part of the Pekin authorities to which tbe Government of India should show itself folly awake. '