Hard clay, for instance, will not mix with the water; but where the matter brought up is soft and easily diluted, this plan possesses many advantages, and its success here affords ample evidence of its merits. "About five miles below St. Petersburg, a basin had been already finished, with landing quays, sheds, and offices; and there is an embankment connecting it with the railways of St. Petersburg, all ready for ships to arrive. When the ships of all nations sail up to the capital, then the ideas of Peter the Great, when he laid the foundations of St. Petersburg, will be realized. St. Petersburg will be no longer an inland port. It will, with its ample harbor and numerous canals among its streets, become the Venice of the North. Its era of commercial greatness is now about to commence. The ceremony of letting the waters of the canal into the new docks was performed by the Emperor in October, 1883. The Empress and heir apparent, with a large number of the Court, were present on the occasion. The works on the canal, costing about a million and a half sterling, were begun in 1876, and have been carried out under the direction of a committee appointed by the Government, presided over by his Excellency, N. Sarloff. The resident engineer is M. Phofiesky; and the contractors are Messrs. Maximovitch and Boreysha." We heartily congratulate the Russian government and the Russian nation upon the accomplishment of this great and useful work of peace. It will certainly benefit English trade. The value of British imports from the northern ports of Russia for the year 1883 was L13,799,033; British exports, L6,459,993; while from the southern ports of Russia our trade was: British imports, L7,177,149; British exports, L1,169,890--making a total British commerce with European Russia of L20,976,182 imports from Russia and L7,629,883 exports to Russia. It cannot be to the interest of nations which are such large customers of each other to go to war about a few miles of Afguhan frontier. The London _Chamber of Commerce Journal_, ably edited by Mr. Kenric B. Murray, Secretary to the Chamber, has in its May number an article upon this subject well deserving of perusal. It points out that in case of war most of the British export trade to Russia would go through Germany, and might possibly never again return under British control. In spite of Russian protective duties, this trade has been well maintained, even while the British import of Russian commodities, wheat, flax, hemp, tallow, and timber, was declining 40 per cent. from 1883 to 1884. The St. Petersburg Maritime Canal will evidently give much improved facilities to the direct export of English goods to Russia. Without reference to our own manufactures, it should be observed that the Russian cotton mills, including those of Poland, consume yearly 264 million pounds of cotton, most of which comes through England. The importation of English coal to Russia has afforded