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CONVENTION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA.
159
Art. 8.-Russian merchants in China, and Chinese merchants in Russia, shall receive due protection from the government of the Country.
In order to the due control of merchants, and to provide against misunderstandings and disputes, Russian Consuls, &c., may be stationed at the various trading marts; and, in addition to those at Ili and Tabagatai, Consuls shall be appointed for Kashgar and Koo- lun. China is at liberty to station Consuls at St. Petersburg, or at such other places in Russia as she may see fit. Such Consuls, whether Russian or Chinese, shall reside in houses, to be built by their government; but they may likewise, without obstruction, rent houses belonging to the people of the places at which they may chance to be stationed.
The Consuls and the local officials shall correspond and hold intercourse on terms of equality, provided for by the second article of the Tientsin Treaty. In matters in which the merchants of both countries are concerned, the officers of the two governments shall take conjoint action; criminals shall be punished in accordance with the laws of their country, as directed by the seventh article of the Tientsin Treaty.
In all cases of disputes originating in the nonpayment of money due in mercantile transactions, the parties concerned shall themselves call in arbitrators; the Russian Consuls and the Chinese local officials shall merely take such action as may tend to bring about an amicable settlement, and shall not in any way be called upon or held responsible for the payment of bad debts.
At the trading marts, the merchants may register, at the offices of the Consuls and local authorities, agreements in reference to property and houses. In such cases, should either of the principals refuse to carry out the terms of the registered agreement, the Consuls and officials shall enforce their fulfilment.
In cases other than those arising from mercantile transactions, as quarrels and such like small matters, the Consuls and local officers shall act conjointly in the examination, and shall punish the guilty parties respectively, as under their several jurisdictions.
Russians secreting themselves in Chinese houses, or absconding to the interior of China, shall, on the requisition of the Consul, be sought for and sent back by the Chinese authorities; and Russian officials shall act reciprocally in the euent of Chinese hiding in Russian houses or escaping to Russian territory.
In such serious cases as murder, robbery, wounding, conspiracy to kill, incendiarism, &c., &c., the guilty party, if Russian, shali be delivered for punishment to the Russian authorities; if Chinese, he may be punished as the laws direct, by the Chinese authorities, either at the place where the crime was committed, or at such other place as the Chinese officials may deem proper. In all cases, great or little, the Consuls and local officials shall each deal with their own countrymen; they shall not in an irregular manner arrest, detain, or punish [people not subject to their jurisdiction.]
Art. 9.-As compared with former years, trade is now much increased, and, moreover, new boundaries have been laid down. Thus, the condition of affairs differs much from what it was at the times of making the Treaties of Nipchu* and Kiachta, and the supplementary stipulations of succeeding years; and circumstances that gave rise to disputes between the various frontier officers no longer remain the same. Such changes, in existing regulations, as are necessitated by the altered state of affairs, are hereby included in newly drawn up stipulations.
Heretofore official communications treating of frontier business have only passed between the High Officer at Koo-lun and the Koo-pih-urh na to-urh (? the Governor) of Kiachta, and between the Governor General of Western Siberia and the Tartar General stationed at Ili. For the future in addition to the officers just named, frontier business. may be transacted by the Koo-pih-urh-na-to-urh of the Amoor and Tung-hae-peen (Eastern Sea shore) provinces in communication with the Tartar General, stationed in Hih-lung- keang and Kee-lin.
Matters in which Kiachta is concerned shall be attended to by Kone-sa-urh (Commis- sioner or Commissary) stationed on the Kiachta frontier, in communication with the
• In Latitude 51. 40 N.
Digitized by
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