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    THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE AND SOCIALISM.*

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    LET us give as wide publicity as possible to the fact , time there exists in London a free Russian press , which , thanks to ttyo genius ami the energy of Alexander Herzen , and the enterprising spirit of Mr . Trubner , has -for four or five years been exceedingly active . The Russian language , from its extreme difficulty , is never likely to attract many students . ' Russian literature also , while acknowledged to be scanty , has been too much influenced by . foreign models to reward the time and trouble spent in acquiring tho

    language . But Russia has played a part so important in the affair * of the world since the outbreak of the French Revolution , that it is not without interest to read in their own tongue what the Russian * themselves have to Bay about the deeds , the daring , and the aspirations of their country , We were , , not very long ago , b y this among other reasons , tempted to aoquaint oursolvos with Russian speech , and are able so far to boast of our industry and perseverance more than of our success , though wo doubt not that here , as in other cases , perseverance and industry will at last bear their proper fruits .

    We wish , as an net of simple fairness , to call attontiou to the pamphlet on tho Russian People and Socialism . It is in the form of ft letter to M . Michelet , and was published in French at Nice , in the autumn of 1851 . The whole edition was seized nt Marseilles by the French police . A translation into English from the French was givon by Mr . VV . J . Liutou in 1855 . Recently , thofirat edition in Russian has appeared . 1 it ) impossible not to esteem and lovo Alexander Horzen , or t <> fail to discern in him much nobleness , elevation , and integrity , ) l \ n country ia ( tour to him , hut truth is quite as d , onr . Ho can often rise to indignation , but ho can never be either bitter or c / ilumniouH . Deep and intense is his enthusiasm ; yet it never carries him oithor

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    and some improvement in their artillery practice , which they seem already to have attained , might at once convert them into enemies far more formidable than they have hitherto proved . Lord Elgin subsequently moved up the Peiho river to Tientsin-, where , after much haggling , he finally obtained the signing of the Treaty , which bears the name of that town . Upon this he sailed for Japan , to present to the Japanese sovereign a steam yacht , as a present from the sovereign of Great Britain ; and to obtain , if he could , by persuasion , and , as usual , by some show of force , "another of those treaties of commerce to which politicians and " practical men " of the old school still attach so much importance . The account of this journey is by far the most interesting and novel portion of Mr . Oliphant ' s work , and its interest is much enhanced by the coloured pictures , chiefly from native drawings ; which accompany the narrative . The maps ? and illustrations , indeed , which are scattered through both volumes , evidence the great care and pains with which the work has been prepared . Mr . Oliphant ' s descriptions of what he saw at Nagasaki , at Simoda , and at Jeddo , are in the highest degree curious and entertaining . His observations confirm in a remarkable manner the glowing accounts of Japanese civilization given by all previous writers , from old Kcempfer to Golownin . In the Japanese bazaars he saw evidences of their advancement in the arts not to be mistaken : in their streets he found every where signs of a polite , a moral , and a happy people—no beggars , no drunkenness , no thieves , no broils . Wife-beating-, and even corporal punishment of children , are barbarities which Japanese civilization has left far behind . The English misson , though altogether a novelty in Jeddo , and though ; as representing foreign intrusion , not popular with a large party , met with no annoyance from any class of the people during their stay there—nor were they even troubled in the public streets with the vulgar curiosity which generally greets the outlandish stranger * The princes furnished the ambassador and his suite with a suitable house for their use , and every other thing necessary to render their stay agreeable ; Lord Elgin ' s treaty , proposing to permit English consuls to reside at Jeddo , and otherwise violating the sacred principle of national privacy , was indeed somewhat unpalatable ; but even this objection was waived , and the .-treaty ; finally settled and signed . Mr . Oliphant furnishes us , in his Appendix , with / a copy of this treaty , and we have been struck in perusing it , with . ' an error so glaring 1 ; so certain to lend—as we believe it has already led—to mischievous results , that it is hard to imagine that it could have hitherto—as we believe it has— -escaped criticism . By Article 10 , it is provided that all foreign coin shall be cui-rent-in Japan , and shall pass Jbr its corresponding weight ¦ in Japanese coin of the same description .: It seems . extraordinary that any one who would venture to insert a clause relating to the regulation of currencj ' , in a document of such importance , should not have been aware that such .-a stipulation violates the best established principles of monetary science , and notwithstanding treaties , laws , or decrees , must be entirely inoperative . Japanese gold coins are stated by Mr . Oliphant to be of greater purity ( that is of loss alloy ) than-English , coins , and upon this he innocently remarks that there will , consequently , in the case of English gold , " always be a difference between its actual and intrinsic value . " Iii this , however , he is quite mistaken ; and he may be sure that in the markets of Nagasaki the intrinsic and the actual value of English coin will be , as it is in every ; other market in the world , one and the same . Though Lord Elgin and his suite had been as little versed in the laws of political economy as his Japanese entertainers , it would- seem scarcely possible that they could hove failed to have met with the maxim thnt the value of a -commodity ' will find its level , in spite of kings and ambassadors . The gravity of such nncrrpr cannot well be overstated , and is indeed proved by the result . Since Lord Elgin left Japan , reports have reached England of serious complications between the English and the Japanese Governinent , arising out of disputes connected with the currency complications , which appeared likely to lead to a repetition of our Chinese difficulties . If , as we believe , these troubles have arison entirely from tho blunder of Lord Elgin , which we have pointed out , no ti » rie ought to be lost in endeavouring to repair it . As with the Chinese , Lord . Elgin found the chief difficulty with the Jana . nese to lie in their unwillingness to allow British residents at the capitals . The authorities in both countries have endeavoured by all the arts of persuasion and delay , to stave off this dreaded result . Nothing , perhaps , has created greater prejudice against them—ov at all events against the Chinese—than their obstinate perseverance in what appears , at first sight , to be so unreasonable ; but it should not bo forgotten that both" countries adopted tho determination to exclude foreigners deliberately , and on what were to them good grounds—for both originally admitted strangers ^ and both unfortunately found the result to be serious disorders , and in one case rebellion and conspiracy against the life of the sovereign . With such facts , it ia not to l > o wondered at if they have sought to isolate themselves . Such isolation is certainly not a just ground of quarrel , much loss of violence ; and it must bo remembered that if they have abandoned their principle , it has always boon reluotnutly , and after the omploymont of some kind of oooroion . Treaties signed under the muzzles of the guna of a British flaet- —wlmtevov they may bo in naval or military eyes—are not , and ndvor will bo , so saored in the eyofi of tho moralist as independent' contract between froo nations ,., ' Nor can it bo said that the Chinea 6 ar ' yumonta for excusing' tfhemaelves from admitting an English miniater to reside £ ermuno » tly at Pokin aro wholly without reason . Tho reader of Ir . Oliphaint ' s work will , if ho is curious , find in tho appendix to tho first volume some interesting correspondence on this point .

    The documents presented by the Chinese are drawn up with much skill and might bear no unfavourable comparison with the State papers of Governments accounting themselves more civilized . " The permanent residence of foreign ministers at the capital ; they say , would "be an injury to China in many more ways than we can nnd words to express ; " they fear that " in the present critical and troublous state of the country , " it would lead " to a loss of respect for their Government in the eyes of the people . " There is , indeed , little doubt that foreign ministers would not lon ° - have resided at Pekin before the Emperor -would have become as dependent upon them as is the Sultan upon the ambassadors at Constantinople , or the native princes of India upon the British residents . Such circumstances inevitably produce that " loss of respect" for their sovereign , which the Chinese Government foreteils ; the consequences for the unfortunate monarch are always loss of power without loss of responsibility and trouble , and finally an anarchy , which becomes an excuse for depriving the native ruler of his last remains of power . Our wisest and best statesmen are of opinion , that our dominion and responsibilities in the East have already assumed dangerous dimensions . Our recent troubles in Hindostan , and , our huge Indian debt , ought to serve as warnings . The best informed upon such subjects will , we think , agree that the seizure of any portion of China by our representatives would be a serious evil ; and so far from being profitable or desirable , would inevitably prove costly , and fruitful of embarrassment . Yet to this result a British resident at Pekin would certainly help to lead us ; nor will the footing which we have already obtained upon the edges of the flowery land fail to extend itself , unless watched ^ guarded against by a determination to repudiate the acts of officials , which have not received previous authorization . Before a just and reasonable policy , steadily persisted in , even Chinese exclusiveness would speedily melt away . Of their willingness to trade with us there cannot be a doubt ; when is there a doubt with any people ? They are eminently a commercial people , and are not deficient in any of the qualities which that character supposes . At : Singapore , and elsewhere , wherever Mr . Oliphant touched in the Indian Ocean , he found the Chinese settlers busy , prosperous , and orderly . The fact is , it is the misfortune of Englishmen to be ruled , and have their treaties of commerce madejbr them , by a class who have not , and never had , any real sympathy with commercial interests . Their , faith is in shot arid shell , in assaults upon city walls , and in the burning of whole suburbs , —in short , in that violence and disorder which is against the very spirit of peaceful interchange . Their acquaintance with the great economic laws whicli affect the wellbeing of commercial communities , may be fairly judged of by the specimen which ' we have given of Lord Elgin ' s theory of the precioiys metals . So T ^ r ^ Oliphant , speaking , no doubt , as a firm believer in his lordship ' s doctrines , descants upon the vast importance of these new markets for British goods , which our loud cannon , and plenipotentiaries , scarcely less loud or menacing , are kindly , as the phrase is , " opening up " for us . It is , no doubt , an idea entirely new to his lordship , and most of his class , that markets being merely places where men exchange goods , the extent of our market in Japan must depend upon how much of Japanese manufactures we desire to buy . Of course , these will only be such goods as could not be obtained so cheap or so good without going fourteen thousand miles for them . The reader who has fully grasped this idea may ask himself , ho \ v far it is probable that the camphor , the vegetable oil , the wax , the tobacco , or even the silk ( admitted to be inferior to Chinese silk ) , over whose existence Mr . Oliphant is so rejoiced , will answer this description . ¦

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    44 The Leader andSatiwrday Analyst , [ Jan . 14 , 1860 .

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    * Tho Russian I ' aoplo and SooUiliam ,- By Aloxtuulcr Hcrzon . London : Trubnov & Oo .

    The Russian People And Socialism.*

    THE RUSSIAN PEOPLE AND SOCIALISM . *

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 44, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2329/page/16/