Of the trade of Russia.
The Russian trade without doors was in a manner annihilated before the
reign of Peter. He restored it anew, after his accession to the throne.
It is notorious, that the current of trade has undergone several changes
in the world. The south part of Russia was before the time of Tamerlane,
the staple of Greece, and even of the Indies; and the Genoese were the
principal factors. The Tanais and the Boristhenes were loaded with the
productions of Asia: but when Tamerlane, towards the end of the
fourteenth century, had conquered the Taurican Chersonesus, afterwards
called Crimea or Crim Tartary, and when the Turks became masters of
Azoph, this great branch of trade was totally destroyed. Peter formed
the design of reviving it, by getting possession of Azoph; but the
unfortunate campaign of Pruth wrested this city out of his hands, and
with it all his views on the Black Sea: nevertheless he had it still in
his power to open as extensive a road to commerce through the Caspian
Sea. The English who, in the end of the fifteenth, and beginning of the
sixteenth century, had opened a trade to Archangel, had endeavoured to
do the same likewise by the Caspian Sea, but failed in all their
attempts for this purpose.
It has been already observed, that the father of Peter the Great caused
a ship to be built in Holland, to trade from Astracan to the coast of
Persia. This vessel was burnt by the rebel Stenkorazin, which put an
immediate stop to any views of trading on a fair footing with the
Persians. The Armenians, who are the factors of that part of Asia, were
received by Peter the Great into Astracan; every thing was obliged to
pass through their hands, and they reaped all the advantage of that
trade; as is the case with the Indian traders, and the Banians, and with
the Turks, as well as several nations in Christendom, and the Jews: for
those who have only one way of living, are generally very expert in that
art on which they depend for a support; and others pay a voluntary
tribute to that knowledge in which they know themselves deficient.
Peter had already found a remedy for this inconvenience, in the treaty
which he made with the sophi of Persia, by which all the silk, which was
not used for the manufactories in that kingdom, was to be delivered to
the Armenians of Astracan, and by them to be transported into Russia.
The troubles which arose in Persia soon overturned this arrangement; and
in the course of this history, we shall see how the sha, or emperor of
Persia, Hussein, when persecuted by the rebels, implored the assistance
of Peter; and how that monarch, after having supported a difficult war
against the Turks and the Swedes, entered Persia, and subjected three of
its provinces. But to return to the article of trade.
_Of the Trade with China._
The undertaking of establishing a trade with China seemed to promise the
greatest advantages. Two vast empires, bordering on each other, and each
reciprocally possessing what the other stood in need of, seemed to be
both under the happy necessity of opening a useful correspondence,
especially after the treaty of peace, so solemnly ratified between these
two empires in the year 1689, according to our way of reckoning.
The first foundation of this trade had been laid in the year 1653. There
was at that time two companies of Siberian and Bukarian families settled
in Siberia. Their caravans travelled through the Calmuck plains; after
they had crossed the deserts of Chinese Tartary, and made a considerable
profit by their trade; but the troubles which happened in the country of
the Calmucks, and the disputes between the Russians and the Chinese, in
regard to the frontiers, put a stop to this commerce.
After the peace of 1689, it was natural for the two great nations to fix
on some neutral place, whither all the goods should be carried. The
Siberians, like all other nations, stood more in need of the Chinese,
than these latter did of them; accordingly permission was asked of the
emperor of China, to send caravans to Pekin, which was readily granted.
This happened in the beginning of the present century.
It is worthy of observation, that the emperor Camhi had granted
permission for a Russian church in the suburbs of Pekin; which church
was to be served by Siberian priests, the whole at the emperor's own
expense, who was so indulgent to cause this church to be built for the
accommodation of several families of eastern Siberia; some of whom had
been prisoners before the peace of 1680, and the others were adventurers
from their own country, who would not return back again after the peace
of Niptchou. The agreeable climate of Pekin, the obliging manners of the
Chinese, and the ease with which they found a handsome living,
determined them to spend the rest of their days in China. The small
Greek church could not become dangerous to the peace of the empire, as
those of the Jesuits have been to that of other nations; and moreover,
the emperor Camhi was a favourer of liberty of conscience. Toleration
has, in all times, been the established custom in Asia, as it was in
former times all over the world, till the reign of the Roman emperor
Theodosius I. The Russian families, thus established in China, having
intermarried with the natives, have since quitted the Christian
religion, but their church still subsists.
It was stipulated, that this church should be for the use of those who
come with the Siberian caravans, to bring furs and other commodities
wanted at Pekin. The voyage out and home, and the stay in the country,
generally took up three years. Prince Gagarin, governor of Siberia, was
twenty years at the head of this trade. The caravans were sometimes very
numerous; and it was difficult to keep the common people, who made the
greatest number, within proper bounds.
They passed through the territories of a Laman priest, who is a kind of
Tartarian sovereign, resides on the sea-coast of Orkon, and has the
title of Koutoukas: he is the vicar of the grand Lama, but has rendered
himself independent, by making some change in the religion of the
country, where the Indian tenet of metempsychosis is the prevailing
opinion. We cannot find a more apt comparison for this priest than in
the bishops of Lubeck and Osnaburg, who have shaken off the dominion of
the church of Rome. The caravans, in their march, sometimes committed
depredations on the territories of this Tartarian prelate, as they did
also on those of the Chinese. This irregular conduct proved an
impediment to the trade of those parts; for the Chinese threatened to
shut the entrance into their empire against the Russians, unless a stop
was put to these disorders. The trade with China was at that time very
advantageous to the Russians, who brought from thence gold, silver, and
precious stones, in return for their merchandize. The largest ruby in
the world was brought out of China to prince Gagarin, who sent it to
prince Menzikoff; and it is now one of the ornaments of the imperial
crown.
The exactions put in practice by prince Gagarin were of great prejudice
to that trade, which had brought him so much riches; and, at length,
they ended in his own destruction; for he was accused before the court
of justice, established by the czar, and sentenced to lose his head, a
year after the condemnation of the czarowitz, and the execution of all
those who had been his accomplices.
About the same time, the emperor Camhi, perceiving his health to decay,
and knowing, by experience, that the European mathematicians were much
more learned in their art than those of his own nation, thought that
the European physicians must also have more knowledge than those of
Pekin, and therefore sent a message to the czar, by some ambassadors who
were returning from China to Petersburg, requesting him to send him one
of his physicians. There happened at that time to be an English surgeon
at Petersburg, who offered to undertake the journey in that character;
and accordingly set out in company with a new ambassador, and one
Laurence Lange, who has left a description of that journey. This embassy
was received, and all the expense of it defrayed with great pomp, by
Camhi. The surgeon, at his arrival, found the emperor in perfect health,
and gained the reputation of a most skilful physician. The caravans who
followed this embassy made prodigious profits; but fresh excesses having
been committed by this very caravan, the Chinese were so offended
thereat, that they sent back Lange, who was at that time resident from
the czar at the Chinese court, and with him all the Russian merchants
established there.
The emperor Camhi dying, his son Yontchin, who had as great a share of
wisdom, and more firmness than his father, and who drove the Jesuits out
of his empire, as the czar had done from Russia in 1718, concluded a
treaty with Peter, by which the Russian caravans were no more to trade
on the frontiers of the two empires. There are only certain factors,
dispatched in the name of the emperor or empress of Russia, and these
have liberty to enter Pekin, where they are lodged in a vast house,
which the emperor of China formerly assigned for the reception of the
envoys from Corea: but it is a considerable time since either caravans
or factors have been sent from Russia thither so that the trade is now
in a declining way, but may possibly soon be revived.
_Of the Trade of_ PETERSBURG, _and the other ports of the_ RUSSIAN
EMPIRE.
There were at this time above two hundred foreign vessels traded to the
new capital, in the space of a year. This trade has continued
increasing, and has frequently brought in five millions (French money)
to the crown. This was greatly more than the interest of the money which
this establishment had cost. This trade, however, greatly diminished
that of Archangel, and was precisely what the founder desired; for the
port of Archangel is too dangerous, and at too great distance from other
ports: besides that, a trade which is carried on immediately under the
eye of an assiduous sovereign, is always the most advantageous. That of
Livonia continued still on the same footing. The trade of Russia in
general has proved very successful; its ports have received from one
thousand to twelve hundred vessels in a year, and Peter discovered the
happy expedient of joining utility to glory.