Travels in the Steppes of the Caspian Sea, the Crimea, the Caucasus Part 2

The following table shows the exports and imports at the different ports and custom-houses of Southern Russia, during the years 1838 and 1839, the value being set down in paper rubles.

EXPORTS.

--------------------------+---------------------+---------------------- PORTS. 1838. 1839.

--------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------- Goods. Specie. Goods. Specie.

Odessa 38,300,872 3,730 48,551,077 56,406 Ismael (on the Danube) 3,913,494 9,915 2,793,244 Reny (on the Danube) 718,040 50,773 609,541 77,745 {Novoselitza 1,978,172 163,868 3,277,660 81,868 In Bessarabia {Skouliany 829,602 525,638 737,462 540,618 {Leovo 96,832 60,537 59,906 36,709 Taganrok 7,666,943 " 8,219,648 Marioupol 4,152,710 " 6,808,526 Berdiansk 2,971,426 " 4,107,638 Kertsch 226,999 " 123,082 Theodosia 1,281,244 " 955,108 Eupatoria 9,299,365 " 2,394,867 Balouclava ----------+----------+----------+----------- Total 64,435,699 814,461 78,637,759 793,346

IMPORTS.

--------------------------+---------------------+---------------------- PORTS. 1838. 1839.

--------------------------+----------+---------- ----------+----------- Goods. Specie. Goods. Specie.

Odessa 17,483,635 3,825,258 19,297,201 3,994,799 Ismael (on the Danube) 253,697 1,632,996 238,996 820,035 Reny (on the Danube) 50,193 797,497 85,429 553,174 {Novoselitza 221,324 1,939,604 245,198 3,048,064 In Bessarabia {Skouliany 222,507 497,200 195,088 721,015 {Leovo 52,336 29,932 55,664 26,291 Taganrok 5,887,901 1,415,596 5,334,369 2,885,279 Marioupol 300 640,660 987 1,515,525 Berdiansk " 768,722 " 825,113 Kertsch { 175,321 { 250,887 Theodosia { 673,535 1,678,658 { 695,130 1,891,947 Eupatoria { 185,480 { 131,222 Balouclava 6,605 +----------+----------+----------+---------- Total 25,212,834 13,226,132 26,520,171 16,281,242 Total of Duties " 8,492,074 " 8,215,426 --------------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------

The foreign goods that entered the interior of the empire in 1839, by way of Odessa, amounted in value to 9,130,148 paper rubles, which, curiously enough, was not even half the total importation of that port.

From this we may judge of the consumption of Odessa, and at the same time of the extent of the contraband trade.

From these tables we see that there is no equilibrium in the trade of Odessa. Southern Russia absorbs every year more than 15,000,000 of foreign specie, and its exports are treble its imports. It is evident that such a trade rests on no solid basis; that its prosperity is due only to accidental circ.u.mstances, and that s.h.i.+ps will gradually abandon the Black Sea, and seek some other destination, wherever agriculture flourishes, and is accompanied by a less exclusive system of customs. In the present state of things, the cultivation of corn in Egypt would be enough to ruin immediately all the ports of Southern Russia. With such contingencies before it, the government of Russia ought to ponder well before obstinately persevering in its present system. Mariners do not like the northern parts of the Black Sea, and once they shall have left them, they will return to them no more.

The year 1839 was most memorable in the commercial history of Odessa.

The exports, consisting almost entirely of corn, amounted to 48,000,000 paper rubles. The harvests in the country had been very abundant, and as those of the rest of Europe were very unpromising, the demand was at first so encouraging that the merchants launched out into the boldest speculations. These were successful for a while, but disasters soon followed, and the houses which were supposed to have realised profits to the amount of millions, failed a year or eighteen months afterwards.

Since that time trade has always been in a perilous state. In 1840, under the still subsisting influence of the movement of the preceding year, there was a diminution of 7,184,021 rubles; and in 1841 the first quarter alone presented a decrease of 6,891,332 rubles in comparison with the corresponding quarter in 1840.

On examining a general table of the exportation of Odessa, we see that during Napoleon's wars its commerce, completely stationary, did not exceed five or six millions of rubles. After the events of 1815, during the horrible dearth that afflicted all western Europe, the exports rose in 1817 to more than 38,000,000. In 1818 they fell without any transition to 20,000,000. During the war of 1828-29 they sank to 1,673,000. After the treaty of Adrianople, Southern Russia, being enc.u.mbered with an excess of produce, the exports again rose to 27,000,000. After this they varied from twenty to thirty, until 1839 when they reached the highest point they ever attained, namely, 48,000,000. We have already explained the causes of this fact.i.tious augmentation. From these data we see that the activity of the trade of Odessa has always arisen out of fortuitous circ.u.mstances, which are becoming more and more rare, and that it is by no means the result of the progressive development of agricultural resources: the country is, therefore, completely stationary.

It is also easy to convince ourselves, by simple comparison, that the commerce of Southern Russia is far from prosperous. In 1839, the most productive year, the custom-houses yield but 8,215,426 rubles; and ten seaports distributed over more than 400 leagues of coast, together with three land custom-houses, show on an average but from forty-five to fifty-five millions of exports, and hardly a third of that amount of imports; whilst Trebizond alone annually sends out more than 50,000,000 worth of English goods into the various adjoining countries.

CHAPTER V.

NAVIGATION, CHARGE FOR FREIGHT, &C. IN THE BLACK SEA.

Of all the seaboard of the East, the coasts of the Black Sea are those from which the expense of freight are the greatest. Different circ.u.mstances combine in producing this effect. 1. The amount of importation being inconsiderable, most of the vessels must arrive in ballast, or with a very scanty cargo. 2. The vessels are exposed to long delays in the Archipelago, and still more so in the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus. Fifty days may be taken as the average duration of the voyage from Ma.r.s.eilles, Genoa, Leghorn, or Trieste, to Odessa. It does not take longer to reach America from the same ports, by a voyage at once less difficult and more lucrative. 3. The Black Sea is situated at the extremity of the inland seas of Europe, and its coasts, which have little traffic, especially with each other, offer few resources to merchant vessels; so that if there is nothing profitable to be done at Odessa or Taganrok, a s.h.i.+p has no alternative but to take freight at ruinously low prices, or to return in ballast, and retrace some hundred miles of a route on which it has already incurred such delays. Certain merchants often take advantage of the distressing position of the masters, and for many years past, a part of the profits on some goods sent to the Mediterranean, has regularly consisted in the sacrifices to which the s.h.i.+powner has been compelled. 4. The pa.s.sage through the Straits of Constantinople subjects vessels freighted in the Russian ports for those of the Mediterranean, to a quarantine which, besides consuming from thirty-five to forty days, always entails considerable expense. It is generally reckoned that it takes a vessel fully six months to accomplish the voyage both ways between a Mediterranean port and Odessa, and to get _pratique_ again, even supposing it to have tolerably favourable winds, and to obtain cargo almost immediately in the Black Sea, a thing which unhappily occurs very seldom. Now a Mediterranean brig of 275 tons, or 200,000 tchetverts' burden, has a crew that costs at least 800 rubles a month for wages and keep. If we add to this, for wear of rigging, insurance, and harbour-dues 400 rubles, we shall have more than 1200 rubles a month for ordinary expenses, without reckoning what storms and other casualties may occasion. Thus the cost of a six months' voyage will amount to 7200 rubles.

Before 1838, the average price of freight in paper rubles was as follows:

Per Per 2000 Tchetverts, Tchetvert. or 275 Tons.

For Constantinople 1.40 2,800 Trieste 2.33 4,666 Leghorn 2.66 5,332 Genoa 4.25 8,500 Ma.r.s.eilles 2.40 4,800 Holland 5.75 11,500 England 7.00 14,000

From this table it appears that the freights did not pay the ordinary expenses of the vessels, with the exception of those bound for England, Holland, and Genoa, under the Sardinian flag.

Odessa has hardly any intercourse with the portion of the Black Sea coast subject to the Sultan, but it often furnishes cargoes for the banks of the Danube, to vessels of not more than twelve feet draught.

These vessels usually proceed to Galatz and Ibrala. Those which have no return cargo, touch at Toultcha and Isacktcha, to take in firewood; others s.h.i.+p a cargo at Galatz and Ibrala, for Constantinople and the Mediterranean. Good prices for freight are generally procured in the Danube, particularly of late years. The progress of agriculture in the princ.i.p.alities, and the facilities met with in their ports, attract foreign captains, and many of them have entirely forsaken Odessa for Galatz.

The government supplies, the war in the Caucasus, and private speculations likewise afford employment to a certain number of vessels between Odessa and the Russian provinces of the Black Sea, and the Sea of Azov. The prices of freight in these cases depend on the greater or less demand, but they are always kept very low by the compet.i.tion of Kherson _lodkas_ (large coasting vessels). These lodkas ply at a very cheap rate, but they are exposed to risks which ought to make them less sought after than better built and better commanded vessels. The pa.s.sage from Odessa to Taganrok, is tedious and expensive, above all for vessels which are obliged to be accompanied with lighters, in order to pa.s.s the Straits of Kertch where the waters are low, and must then anchor in the Taganrok-roads, at a distance of ten from the sh.o.r.e. We may confidently estimate the voyage between Taganrok and Odessa both ways, as of two months' duration.

Thus navigation is hardly more prosperous than trade itself. If it Has. .h.i.therto maintained a part of its activity, this must be attributed to the great number of vessels belonging to the Mediterranean, to the influence of a past period, fertile in profit, and to commercial routine. Nevertheless, a revolution is gradually taking place, and already many vessels that formerly frequented the Russian ports, have found means to employ themselves advantageously on the Ocean. We find their names mentioned in foreign journals, in the s.h.i.+pping intelligence from America and India, and it is probable they are quite as successful there as others that have not yet chosen to visit the coasts of Southern Russia.

CHAPTER VI.

AGRICULTURE AND MANUFACTURES OF SOUTHERN RUSSIA--MINERAL PRODUCTIONS--RUSSIAN WORKMEN.

In justification of its prohibitive system, the government alleges the protection and encouragement it owes to native industry. Now it is evident that absolute exclusion cannot favour industry. The high tariff, it is true, seems to secure a certain market for Russian manufactures; but it results from it that those manufactures, being kept clear of all compet.i.tion, are worse than stationary; for the manufacturers, whose number is very limited, agree among themselves to turn out exactly the same sort of workmans.h.i.+p, and in the same proportion. Moscow is now the centre of all the manufactures of silk, cotton, and woollen stuffs, shawls, &c.; yet, in spite of all the privileges secured to those establishments by the tariff, a great number of them have failed of late years. Their goods have become so bad that they could no longer compete in sale with smuggled articles. In 1840, or 1841, the emperor made a journey to Moscow, on purpose to preside over the meeting of manufacturers; but unfortunately ukases and proclamations are inefficient to create a body of manufacturers; the imperial desires in nowise altered the face of things.

There are at this day, in Russia, two great branches of manufacturing industry, one of which, employing the raw materials furnished by the soil, such as iron, copper, and other metals, belongs properly to Russia, and has no need to fear foreign compet.i.tion. It is true we cannot speak very highly of the Russian hardware and cutlery, but they find a sure sale, the inhabitants caring more for cheapness than quality. The most important manufactures of this sort are established at Toula, and in the government of Nijni Novgorod; the materials are furnished by Siberia.

The Ural is one of the most remarkable mountain chains on the globe, for the extent and variety of its mineral wealth. I say nothing of its gold, silver, and platina ores; they add too little to the real prosperity of the country to call for mention here. The iron ores of Siberia are generally of superior quality; but as the processes to which they are subjected, are somewhat injudicious, the iron produced from them is seldom as good as it might be. The working of the iron mines has been a good deal neglected of late years, landowners having turned their attention chiefly to the precious metals; hence the prices of wrought and cast iron have risen considerably in Southern Russia, which employs those of Siberia exclusively. The carriage is effected for this part of the empire by land; in one direction by the Volga, the Don, and the Sea of Azov, in another by the Dniepr. The journeys are long and expensive, and often they cannot be effected at all in consequence of irregularities either in the arrivals, or in the river floods. The present price of pig-iron is from eighteen to twenty francs for the 100 kilogrammes, and of bar-iron from forty-four to forty-five francs, in Kherson and Odessa. I do not know the prices at the places where the iron is produced, but whatever they may be, these figures show how much Russia has yet to do towards facilitating the means of internal communication. Of copper, lead, &c., notwithstanding the cost of carriage, Russia exports a considerable quant.i.ty to foreign countries.

Not content with these valuable sources of wealth, which alone would suffice for the support of a vast and truly national industry, Russia has thought it desirable to create for herself a manufacturing industry such as exists in other countries of Europe, and to arrive at this end she has devised a system of the most absolute prohibition. How far has she been successful? Of all European countries Russia is unquestionably placed in the most unfavourable circ.u.mstances for contending with foreign manufactures. Situated as she is at the extremity of Europe, she can only be reached by long, difficult, and expensive routes; and as her manufactures of stuffs, silks, &c., are all concentrated in Moscow, the expenses of carriage are enormous. Thus the cottons landed in Odessa are first carried to Moscow, and then return, after being wrought, to the governments of the Black Sea. The want of capable and intelligent workmen is also one of the most serious obstacles to the establishment of manufactures; the Russian peasant is essentially agricultural, and knows nothing of handicraft trades, except so far as they are of service to him in his daily labours; and then, by const.i.tution and by the effects of that long slavery that has weighed and still weighs upon him, his ideas are naturally contracted and can never apply themselves to more than a single object. The sole talent he possesses in a really remarkable degree is that of imitation. The black enamelled work of the Caucasus is admirably imitated at Toula; and at Lughan, in the government of Iekaterinoslaf, they make very pretty things in Berlin iron, copied from Prussian models. This talent for imitation is no doubt valuable in the workshops where they are constantly making the same set of things, and in the same way; but it becomes completely inefficient in the manufactories for piece-goods, in which there must be incessant innovation and improvement: hence we find all the great manufactories, after being at first managed by foreign superintendents and workmen, fall gradually into decay from the moment they are transferred to native hands. The Russians are essentially dest.i.tute of imagination and the spirit of invention; and then the p.r.o.neness of the workmen to laziness and drunkenness cannot but be fatal to industry. The workman is always seeking some pretext to escape from labour; he has his own calendar, in which the number of holidays is doubled; these he employs in getting drunk, and the days following them in sleeping off his liquor. The result is, that he pa.s.ses half the year in doing nothing, that he strives to sell his day's work at the dearest possible rate, and that the working time being thus indefinite, it is impossible to fix punctually the time of production. This unhappy moral condition of the labouring cla.s.ses is the same throughout all Russia, and may be regarded as one of the worst evils incidental to the native industry. To these obstacles, proceeding from the very nature of the people, are superadded physical difficulties no less imperious. In France, England, and Germany, when any new manufacture is established, it always rests on other branches already in existence, and about which it has no need to employ itself. In Russia, on the contrary, in order to succeed in any branch of manufactures, it is necessary at the same time to create all the accessories connected with it. Every one knows what a vast quant.i.ty of merino and other wools Southern Russia supplies, and it would seem at first sight that of all manufactures that of woollen cloths ought to offer the fairest chances of success in that country. But it is not so: I have visited two or three cloth factories on the banks of the Dniepr belonging to foreigners, and managed by them with an ability beyond all praise; yet it was with the utmost difficulty and through the personal labour of their proprietors that they were able to subsist. The government itself, some years ago, erected at Iekaterinoslaf one of the largest cloth manufactories I am acquainted with; the looms were set in motion by two steam-engines, and several hundred workmen were employed.

The establishment, nevertheless, was closed after three years'

existence, and I myself saw all the materials sold at a great depreciation.

The number of manufacturing establishments of all sorts in Russia amounted in 1839 to 6855, and that of the workmen employed to 412,931, not including those engaged in the mines and in the smelting-houses, forges, &c., belonging to them. We will enumerate as the most important branches of Russian industry:--

Establishments.

Manufactories of Cloth and Woollen Stuffs 606 Silks 227 Cottons 467 Canva.s.s and other Linen Goods 216 Tan Yards 1918 Tallow-melting Houses 554 Manufactories of Candles 444 Soap 270 Metal Ware 486

In this table the manufactories of woollen cloths, silks, and cottons, together figure but as 1300; and yet it is in a great measure to the supposed encouragement which the government desires to afford these branches of industry, that Russia owes her system of customs; for setting aside a few objects of luxury, Russia has no need to fear foreign compet.i.tion with regard to any other articles. Certainly, if the silk and cotton manufactures could exercise a beneficial influence upon the prosperity of the country, if they were necessary to supply the wants of the whole population, in that case we could to a certain extent understand the sentence of exclusion p.r.o.nounced on foreign goods; but the productions of the Moscow factories are destined only for the aristocracy and the trading cla.s.ses, and the 40,000,000 of slaves that const.i.tute the European population of Russia, consume but an insignificant portion of them, all their clothes being wrought by their own hands.

It is not surprising then that all the manufacturing establishments are concentrated in Moscow, that being the place where the aristocratic and trading part of the community exist in most considerable numbers, and where there is most certainty of finding customers. Everywhere else the chances of success would be few or none: witness Southern Russia where all manufacturing attempts have hitherto failed, notwithstanding the advantages it derives from its seaports. The three governments composing it reckon at this day but 2000 workmen, even including those who work in the rope walks and the tallow houses.

According to authentic doc.u.ments the numbers of the n.o.bility and tradespeople do not exceed 3,000,000. Without a complete alteration, therefore, in the manners and habits of the peasants, it is impossible to hope that the manufacture of piece-goods can ever attain a great development, and it would have been infinitely better to have left the supply of these articles to importation; the imperial treasury would thereby have been a gainer, and more active relations with the foreigner would have afforded valuable guarantees for the prosperity of the country. But Russia suffered herself to be seduced by the most brilliant branch of industry of our times; she, too, wished to have her cachemires and her silks; and not considering that agriculture is for her the most lucrative, the most positive of all branches of industry, she recoiled from no prohibitive measure in order to favour some indigenous manufactures. I say again, Russia is before all things a country for the production of raw materials. Agriculture, including therein the breeding of cattle, evidently forms the basis of the national prosperity, and it is only by facilitating its extension and its outlets that Russia can hope to secure the future welfare of its people.

If at this day the establishment of new villages in Southern Russia is becoming so difficult, it is not for want of land, but because the peasants have no means of ready transport for their produce, and because also the want of importation, naturally exercising a great influence upon the price of corn, signally restricts the demand from abroad. Is it not indeed deplorable to see the most fertile and productive governments of New Russia sunk in extreme penury by the want of roads, and by the culpable neglect of the administration which deprives them of the navigation of the rivers! Will the government at last open its eyes to the mischiefs of the course it is pursuing? We can scarcely hope so. All the commercial reports of the empire dress up things in so fair a light, and the public functionaries agree so well together in falsifying public opinion, that the emperor, beguiled by the brilliant picture incessantly laid before his eyes, cannot but persevere in the fatal course adopted by his predecessors.

CHAPTER VII.

DEPARTURE FROM ODESSA--TRAVELLING IN RUSSIA--NIKOLAEF, OLVIA, OTSHAKOF--KHERSON--THE DNIEPR--GENERAL POTIER-- ANCIENT TUMULI--STEPPES OF THE BLACK SEA--A RUSSIAN VILLAGE--SNOW STORM--NARROW ESCAPE FROM SUFFOCATION--A RUSSIAN FAMILY--APPENDIX.

After some months' stay in Odessa, we left it in company with General Potier, a Frenchman by birth, to pa.s.s the winter at his country-house.

Travelling would nowhere be more rapid than in Russia, if the posting-houses were a little better conducted and more punctual in supplying horses. The country is perfectly flat, and you may traverse several hundred leagues without meeting a single hill. Besides this, the Russian driver has no mercy on his horses; they must gallop continually, though they should drop dead under the whip. Another reason that contributes to the rapidity of posting, is, that there are never less than three or four horses yoked to the lightest vehicle. The general's carriage being rather heavy, we had six horses, that carried us along at the rate of fifteen versts (ten miles) an hour. We found the rooms in the posting-stations much more elegant than we had expected; but this was owing to the journey of the imperial family, for whom they had been completely metamorphosed. The walls and ceilings were fresh painted with the greatest care, and we found everywhere handsome mirrors, divans, and portraits of the emperor and empress. Thanks, therefore, to the transit of their majesties, our journey was effected in the most agreeable manner, though on ordinary occasions, one must make up his mind to encounter all sorts of privations and annoyances in a long excursion through Russia. The towns are so few, and the villages are so dest.i.tute of all requisites, that one is in sore danger of being starved to death by the way, unless he has had the precaution to lay in a stock of provisions at starting. The post-houses afford you literally nothing more than hot water for tea, and a bench to rest on. The Russian and Polish grandees never omit to carry with them on their journeys a bed with all its appurtenances, a whole range of cooking implements, and plenty of provisions. In this way they pa.s.s from town to town, without ever suspecting the unfortunate position in which the foreigner is placed who traverses their vast wildernesses. The latter, it may be said, is free to follow their example; but the thing is not so easy.

Supposing even that he was possessed of all this travelling apparatus, still the expense of carriage would imperatively forbid his taking it with him, whereas the Russians, who generally travel with their own horses, may have a dozen without adding to their expenses. As for those who have recourse to the post, they care very little about economy, and provided they have a good dinner prepared by their own cooks, a soft bed and all other physical comforts, they never trouble themselves to calculate the cost. But as for the foreigner who travels in this country, the inconvenience I have just mentioned is nothing in comparison with the countless vexations he must endure, simply because he is a foreigner. Having no legal right to lay his cane over the shoulders of the clerks of the post, he must make up his mind to endure the most scandalous impositions and annoyances at their hands, and very often he will be obliged to pa.s.s forty-eight hours in a station, because he cannot submit to the conditions imposed on him. Neither threats nor entreaties can prevail on the clerk to make him furnish horses if it does not suit his humour. The epithet _particularnii tcheloviek_ which is applied in Russia to all who do not wear epaulettes, and which signifies something less than a n.o.body, is a categorical reply to the traveller's utmost eloquence.

Before we reached Kherson, we stopped at Nicolaef, a pretty town, which has been for some years the seat of the Admiralty formerly established in Kherson, and which is daily increasing at its rival's expense. Its vast dockyards attract a whole population of workmen, whose presence swells its wealth and importance. Its position on the Bug, its new houses and pretty walks planted with poplars, make it the most agreeable town in the government. When we pa.s.sed through it, a splendid s.h.i.+p of the line of three decks had just been completed, and was waiting only for the ceremony of being christened to take its place in the Black Sea fleet.

Four or five leagues below Nicolaef, on the right bank of the Bug, near its embouchure in the liman[1] of the Dniepr, are the ruins of Olvia or Olviopolis, a Milesian colony founded about 500 B.C. There have been found inscriptions and medals which put the origin of these remains beyond all doubt. Lower down on the liman of the Dniepr, not far from the sea, is the fortress of Otchakov, which formerly belonged to the Turks, and then formed a considerable town, known by the name of Ozou.

It was twice taken by the Russian troops on the 13th of June, 1737, under the command of Marshal Munich, and on the 6th of December, 1788, under Potemkin. At present, not a trace of the Turkish sway remains in the village. All the Mussulman buildings have been pulled down to give place to a steppe, on which some Russian cabins and about fifty miserable shops have been set up. The environs of Otchakov also present traces of the abode of the ancient Greeks. In 1833 there were found here a fragment of a bas-relief in tolerable preservation, a male torso, and an offering with an inscription from certain Greek military chiefs to Achilles, ruler of the Pontus.