The Emperor of Russia in a quaintly worded Imperial Order
issued on Sunday last, and addressed to the Minister of Finance, has declared that after the completion of the railway Talienwan shall be a free port during the whole duration of the lease from China. In the course of the Order the Emperor says : 'Thanks to the wise decision of the Chinese Government, we shall through the railway lines in course of construction be united with China,—a result which gives to all nations the immeasurable gain of easy com- munication and lightens the operations of the world's trade." The Emperor also speaks of "a rapprochement between the peoples of the West and East" (brought about apparently by obtaining an outlet for the great Siberian railway) as "our historic aim." Whether much trade will go to Talienwan remains to be seen, but we can hardly believe that when it is the terminus of a railway in Russian hands it will not do a great deal more business than it did as a purely Chinese port.
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