CONVENTION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA.
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may at pleasure frequent the shops and markets for trade and barter, and they may there make ready money payments, or if they trust each other, open credit accounts; and as to the time that the merchants of the one may sojourn in the other country, the only limit shall be the merchants' own pleasure and convenience.
Art. VIII.-Russian merchants in China, and Chinese merchants in Russia, skall receive due protection from the covernment of the country.
In order to tle due control of merchants, and to provide against misunderstandings and disputes, Russian Consuls, &c., may be s'ationed at the various trading marts; and, in addition to those at Ili and Tarbagatai, 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 Cons ils, 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 t eir country, as directed by the seventh article of the Tientsin Treaty.
In all cases of disputes originating in the non-payment 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 quarr ls and such like small matters, the Consuls and local officers shall act conjointly in the examina- tion, and shall punish the guilty parties respectively, as under their several juris lic ions.
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 Rus-ian officials shall act reciprocally in the event of Chinese hiding in Russian houses, or escaping to Russian territory.
In such serious cases as murder, robbery, wounding, conspiracy to kill, incen- diarism, &c., &c., the guilty party, if Russian, shall b› 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 committ d, or at such other place as the Chinese officials may deem proper. In all cases, great or little, the Consuls and local offic als 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. IX.-As compared with former years trade is now much increased, and more- over, new bout dari s 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 regu.ations, as are necessitated [by the altered state of affairs] are hereby included in newly drawn up stipulations.
Her tofore official communications treating of frontier business have only passed between the Higt. Official 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-urb of the Amoor and Tung-hae-pern (Eastern Sea-shore) provinces in communication with the Tartar General, stationed in Hib-lung-keang and Kee-liu.
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• In Latitude 51.40 N.