This article is a continuation of the conversation started in our first publication about the economic literature of past centuries as a source for modern Oriental historical and economic research1.

What domestic publications of the first half of the XIX century can be useful for an orientalist as reference books in his work on economic problems? What kind of information about Russian-Asian trade was available to domestic readers and researchers of that era? What were the results of discussing the prospects of Russian-Asian land and sea trade by the end of the pre-reform period of Russia's development in the XIX century? Here we will continue to consider the range of problems stated not only in the previous publication, but also in the collection of articles "Foreign East: questions of the history of trade with Russia" (Moscow, 2000).

In the first half of the 19th century, the accumulation of economic information about the East, which is of practical importance, continued. The quality of its processing changed, although not immediately. Initially, as in the previous period, we are dealing mainly with a retelling of what is already well-known in the West. For example, in 1807, by the supreme command, "Comparative tables of foreign weights, measures, real and exchange rate coins in relation and comparison to the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange" were published. The tables were compiled by Franz Borel, head of the Department of the Ministry of Commerce. He was patronized by the Minister N. P. Rumyantsev (later Borel served in the diplomatic service and became the first Russian diplomatic representative in Brazil) 2. Borel relied on both the economic literature of the last century (J.-P. Ricard), and on the most recent European studies, for example, on the work of the French financier P.-F. in 1806. A bonville with information about the exchange rates of various countries. The tables contained information about those eastern countries and cities where Europeans traded: the Ottoman Empire (Istanbul, Cairo, Aleppo, Smyrna, etc.), Persia (Isfahan, Bandar Abbas), India (Bombay, Calicut, etc.), China, Japan, and the Maghreb countries [Borel,1807, pp. 76-79; 88-107]. Borel brought the local systems of weights and measures in line with the Russian ones, as well as recalculated them.-

The work was carried out within the framework of the RFBR research project 05 - 06 - 80041-a.

1 Soplenkov S. V. "Commerce of the whole earth circle". Data on Russian-Asian trade and the experience of its comprehension in the domestic economic literature of the XVIII century. 2007, No. 3, pp. 52-56.

Biographical information about F. F. Borel is given in: [Komissarov and Bozhkova, 2000]. On Borel's work on "Comparative Tables..." and the sources of his work, see: [Komissarov and Bozhkova, 2000, pp. 13-16].

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I converted eastern monetary units (or European ones used in local trade) into Russian silver and assignation rubles at the exchange rate of 1807.

In the preface, the compiler stated: "Knowledge of the weight, measure, and coin of the nations with which [we] have relations is as necessary for the merchant as for the Government. Comparative descriptions of the subjects of the table are also necessary for reading travel, like an atlas " [Borel, 1807, preface, p. not specified]3.

What is new is particularly evident in the understanding of specific information about Russian-Asian trade. In our previous publication, it was already noted that during the reign of Alexander I, bravura rhetoric of statesmen and journalists reigned about the prospects for the development of Russian-Asian land trade relations. In the 30s and 40s of the XX century, the optimistic mood in this regard in Russian society noticeably decreased. More serious publications have appeared. We are talking about the works of G. P. Nebolsin, who held the position of editor of the "Commercial Newspaper"in 1829-1859.

In 1835, his work "Statistical Notes on the foreign Trade of Russia" was published. Nebolsin mainly relied on official Russian foreign trade statistics and publications in Russian periodicals. Information on Russian-Asian trade is presented in several aspects: information based on the geography of trade relations (Black Sea, Caspian, Caucasian and Transcaucasian trade, Siberian and Orenburg lines, with China); data on trade in certain types of goods (tea, spices, silk, cotton, etc.); the author's essays on the history and problems of Russian-Asian trade [Nebolsin, 1835, part 2, pp. 146-196]. Nebolsin provided data on the volume of exports and imports of goods through Russian ports, as well as through land customs offices and outposts (data refer to the 1820s-the first half of the 1830s), described in detail the directions of commodity flows in Russia, and provided information on the cost of sea and land transportation of goods (for example, from Odessa to Istanbul, from Bukhara to Orenburg, from Kyakhta to Moscow). Foreign trade statistics are summarized in the tables "Asian Trade" (1830-1834) attached to the first volume.) and "Bulletin on the import of the most important foreign goods" (1800-1835).

In 1850, Nebolsin published the Statistical Review of Russia's Foreign Trade. His work was awarded the prize of the Russian Geographical Society, i.e. it attracted the attention of an interested readership. In this work, the author used not only Russian, but also European works on economics and statistics. This included customs reports of European states, McCulloch's fundamental "Commercial Dictionary", which continued the encyclopedic traditions laid down by Savary de Brulon's" General Commercial Dictionary", and J. MacGregor's" Commercial Statistics". In this regard, the spectrum of Nebolsin research has become wider: the book showed the role of Russia in world trade. The structure of work has also changed: the economist realized that a narrow range of goods dominates Russian foreign trade, so individual export and import items were now characterized by non-Bolsin.

3 The need for generalizing work of this kind was acutely felt in Russia in the second half of the XVIII century. In addition to the work of Zh. -P. Ricard's " Torg Amsterdam...", information about the systems of weights and measures of Eastern countries, see the following publications: [Matinsky, 1779; Dictionary of Commercial..., 1787, part 1, pp. 460-467 ("Universal table of weights, compared by pound... with the scales of the whole world, such as that of Europe, Asia, Africa and America according to the latest news")].

In the " Dictionary of Commerce...", which contains articles selected mainly from the" General Commercial Dictionary "of Savary de Brulon and the "Encyclopedia" of Diderot and d'Alembert, see also the table "Comparison of coins of different States with the price of Russian kopecks" [Dictionary of Commerce..., 1789, part 2, pp. 146-150]. For information on the coin system of the Ottoman Empire, see [Ruban, 1791, p. 105-109]. See also the table "The price of various coins in kopecks and polushkas": [Ruban, 1791, p.110-1120].

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In both works, the economist did not just present readers with interesting digital and factual material. He defined the purpose of his work as follows:"...to reveal the movement of Russia's foreign trade in connection with its domestic industry... "[Nebolsin, 1835, part I, from the publisher, p. omitted], i.e. show the relationship of foreign trade with the socio-economic development of Russia itself. He also emphasized that digital data express facts that must be understood and explained to the reader [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, p. 8]. Here are just a few of them that relate to the problem of the ratio of land and sea trade.

Nebolsin understood that sea trade is much more profitable than land, and repeatedly drew the attention of readers to the weakness of domestic commercial navigation. Of the 500-600 ships arriving in Odessa annually (20-30s of the XIX century), the number of ships built in Russia, owned by Russian merchants and making voyages to foreign ports, did not exceed ten [Nebolsin, 1835, part I, p.81]. The situation is no better in the Baltic: "Out of 1,500 ships arriving in Kronstadt, no more than 200 are under the Russian flag, including three parts of Finland and one part of Russia..." [Nebolsin, 1835, part I, p.46]. The situation is similar in the Caspian Sea:" As far as Astrakhan navigation is concerned, it is generally Persian "[Nebolsin, 1835, part II, p.155];" the main and most profitable occupation "of Russian shkouts (small vessels) is"...transportation of state-owned provisions... from Astrakhan to the Caspian ports for the Transcaucasian troops "[Nebolsin, 1835, part I, p. 149]. In the foreign trade "merchant shipping" in the final analysis."..The Russian flag is participating... by one-tenth, even counting in this number... Finlandskia vessels and those that sail on the Black Sea, not having... except for the flag, nothing Russian" [Nebolsin, 1835, part II, p. 93]. The era of Nicholas I is often associated with sailboats in Aivazovsky's paintings, but when you remember the subjects of his works, you understand: most of the paintings depict Russian military vessels.

It is also interesting how trade with the East is carried out. For example, in Feodosia, "Asians" who have accepted Russian citizenship, no more than 13 people, are engaged in it. "They get goods for the most part from... Turkish subjects living in Anatolia or Constantinople, and declare them in the customs as their own goods, and after selling them or exchanging them for Russian ones, they send these latter, also as their own, to their real owners " [Nebolsin, 1835, part I, p. 99]. Nebolsin is not concerned about the infringed national dignity of domestic entrepreneurs, but about the fact that Russian citizenship was used in this case as a legal way to evade payment of duties. As for the participation of Russian merchants in the "port trade", then all over Russia by 1835."..there are hardly up to 30 trading houses of the native Russian merchant class that produce foreign trade at their own expense and then on unimportant capital" [Nebolsin, 1835, part II, p. 93; see also: Kulisher, 2003, p. 321-322; Ivanov, 2000, p. 116-117]. Thus, maritime foreign trade relations were carried out by Russia through the mediation of European powers, primarily Britain.

Naturally, this affected the volume and nature of Russian-Asian trade. For example, in the 1830s and 1840s, American and Indian cotton came to Russia mainly "through Great Britain", by sea (95% of imports), while "Asian cotton" received from the Ottoman Empire, Persia, and Central Asia accounted for the remaining 5% of imports [Nebolsin, 1850, part 2, p. 82-84].

Nebolsin also reports interesting data on the spice trade. (It should be borne in mind that there was a smuggling trade that was not taken into account by official statistics.) The total import of cloves in 1819-1820 was as follows: 2,237 poods were imported to the northern ports, 1 (one) pood was imported to the southern ports, 4 poods were imported along the land border; 1006.5 poods were imported to the northern ports, 15.5 poods were imported to the southern ports, and 3 poods were imported along the land border; pepper was imported to the northern ports - 41 379 poods, in the southern regions-605 poods, along the land border - 1012 poods [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, p. 293]. By the second half of the 1940s.

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The situation changes somewhat due to the development of Odessa trade, but the overall picture is as follows: eastern "spicy roots are brought to Russia mostly from England and are delivered most to St. Petersburg", therefore it is through St. Petersburg"...most of the state is supplied with colonial goods" [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, p. 296,295].

From his reasoning in his 1850 work, it becomes clear how artificial the Russian-Chinese trade through the Kyakhta was. Since trading in Kyakhta was barter, the turnover of capital among Russian merchants was extremely slow. The merchant received monetary profit only after selling tea at the Nizhny Novgorod and Irbit fairs or in Moscow (the journey in one direction only could take up to six months). By making a loss in the exchange of Russian goods for tea (domestic goods were exchanged at low prices, and tea delivered from the south of China was more expensive in Kyakhta than in Canton and Shanghai, where Europeans made purchases) [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, pp. 372-374], merchants compensated for their losses and costs on the transportation of high prices of tea in Russia [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, p. 368, 369, 372].

Further, Nebolsin attracts British statistics. These figures have been repeatedly used by modern researchers, but in this case the very course of Nebolsin's thought is important. Delivery of pud tea from Kyakhta to Moscow costs from 15 to 40 rubles. bank notes, to Nizhny Novgorod - not less than 20 rubles. bank notes, while sea transportation of the same cargo from Canton to London - 30-40 kopecks in silver [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, p. 363, 372]. As a result, in London, the best varieties of tea are listed at 25-90 kopecks in silver per pound, while in Nizhny Novgorod, the wholesale prices of the best varieties reach 2 rubles. 70 kopecks in silver per pound, and low varieties are sold at the price of the best London tea [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, pp. 374-375; see also: Romanova, 2000, p. 165].

This branch of Russian commerce was completely uncompetitive with the European one. Outside of the system of state protectionism, trade through the Kyakhta did not have any prospects for further development. From Russia to Europe in the period 1826-1846. on average, about 150 poods of tea were exported annually, and Kyakhta tea was purchased in Europe ."..mostly Russians living there... " [Nebolsin, 1850, part 1, p. 377]. The validity of the ideas regarding Russian-Asian land trade, formulated in the second half of the XVIII century at the level of guesswork in the "New and Complete Geographical Dictionary of the Russian state..." and Radishchev in the "Letter on Chinese Trade", Nebolsin was proved with figures in his hands.

Nebolsin also cites the main reason for this state of affairs: "For the transition from passive to active [foreign] trade, it is necessary to need large capitals, without which the latter cannot even arise" [Nebolsin, 1835, part II, p. 97]. He cites the following data for 1847: in the Port of St. Petersburg, the total annual turnover of approximately 20 major Russian firms was 8 million rubles in silver, while for foreign firms it reached 94 million rubles in silver [Nebolsin, 1850, part 2, pp. 463-464]. In fairness, it should be noted that complaints about the" lack of capital " of Russian merchants engaged in foreign trade were also voiced during the time of Catherine II [Kulisher, 2003, pp. 264-267], but in the context of public thought in the mid-19th century, Nebolsin's judgments were no longer perceived as a reproach to the "dark kingdom" of the Russian merchant class. In fact, he wrote about the underdevelopment of capitalist relations, about the socio-economic backwardness of Russia from European states.

In its relations with the Eastern peoples, Russia plays the role of a" manufacturing " state, exporting mainly finished products rather than raw materials. However, here the opportunities for trade development are dictated by the internal state of the border Eastern peoples. In Central Asia " ... consumption of our products... It is spreading slowly, because of the limited needs of the inhabitants there, who are partly nomadic and partly settled, but who are stagnating in ignorance, under the barbaric rule of the local people.-

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I will teach my khans " [Nebolsin, 1850, part 2, p. 466]. This idea was expressed even more harshly in relation to Central Asia in the 1850s in the review of the ethnographer and economist P. I. Nebolsin's book "Essays on Russia's Trade with the countries of Central Asia" by the orientalist V. V. Grigoriev: "...while the present ones will weigh on Inner Asia... disorder and barbarous savagery, which naturally give rise to poverty and apathy, and a considerable development of trade with it... impossible" [Grigoriev, 1856, p. 180].

These works turned out to be a milestone in the development of Russian economic thought. Judging by the fact that these books received official recognition in the form of prizes, and Nebolsin took up the post of a fellow finance minister during the reform era, the Russian government was determined to get real information about the state of foreign trade. Nebolsin clearly stated that the reasons for failures in foreign trade lie in the very structure of the Russian economy, i.e., although the need for deep transformations was not explicitly declared by him (and this could not be openly written about in 1850), however, the unsatisfactory state of the Russian economy became obvious to the reader.

In the works of both economists, the understanding of Russian-Asian trade relations turned out to be connected with theoretical views on the nature of Eastern societies. This process of forming a more realistic vision of the East, both at the level of theoretical concepts and at the level of information of practical significance, was actively going on in Russian public thought throughout the first half of the XIX century [for more details, see: Soplenkov, 2000]. By the end of the reign of Nicholas I, the unfounded hopes of Russia for a "golden path to Asia", for developing ties with India through Central Asia, where despotic rulers condemn their subjects to stagnant vegetationbecomes obvious. Complex work on involving Central Asia and the Asian border regions in the economic space of the Russian Empire took the following decades [for more details, see Petrov, 2000, pp. 37-48].

list of literature

[Borel F.] Comparative tables of foreign weights, measures, real and exchange rate coins in relation and comparison to the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange. Compiled by the works of the head of the Department of the Minister of Commerce of the Collegiate Assessor Franz Borel. St. Petersburg, 1807.

[Grigoriev V. V.] Analysis of the work of P. I. Nebolsin "Essays on trade in Russia with Central Asia", compiled by the corresponding member of the Academy V. V. Grigoriev / / Twenty-fifth award of awards established by P. N. Demidov. May 26, 1856. St. Petersburg, 1856.

Ivanov S. M. Iz istorii russko-turk'skoy torgovli v XVIII - nachale XX v. [From the History of Russian-Turkish trade in the XVIII-early XX centuries]. Zarubezhny Vostok: voprosy istorii torgovli s Rossii, Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura, 2000.

Kulisher I. M. History of Russian trade and industry. Chelyabinsk: Sotsium Publ., 2003.

Komissarov B. N., Bozhkova S. G. First Russian Envoy to Brazil F. F. Borel. St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Press, 2000.

[Matinsky M.] Description of various measures and weights of different states, composed by Mikhail Matinsky, and published by the Independent Free Economic Society. St. Petersburg, 1779.

[Nebolsin G. P.] Statistical notes on foreign trade of Russia. Compiled by Grigory Nebolsin. Parts I-II. St. Petersburg, 1835.

[Nebolsin G. P.] Statistical description of foreign trade of Russia by Grigory Nebolsin, awarded the Full Zhukovsky Prize by the Russian Geographical Society. Parts 1-2. St. Petersburg, 1850.

Petrov A. M. the Russian Empire and foreign trade foreign Asia // Foreign East: a history of trade with Russia. M.: Vostochnaya Literatura, 2000.

Romanova G. N. Trade relations of Russia and China at the end of the XVII-beginning of the XX century. Zarubezhny Vostok: voprosy istorii torgovli s Rossii [Foreign East: Issues of the History of Trade with Russia], Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura, 2000.

[Ruban V.] Universal and perfect Messenger and track designator, or Complete ubiquitous Russian and everyday European road builder ... Part 2. St. Petersburg, 1791.

A commercial dictionary that contains knowledge about products from all countries and the names of major and newest items related to commerce... Translated from French by Vasily Levshin. Part 1-2. Moscow, 1787-1789.

Soplenkov S. V. Doroga v Arzrum: rossiiskaya obshchestvennaya mysl ' o Vostoke (pervaya polovina XIX V.) [The Road to Arzrum: Russian Public Thought about the East (the first half of the 19th century)].

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