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TREATY BETWEEN FRANCE AND CHINA.
Separate and Secret Articles completing the Treaty concluded between His Majesty the Emperor of the French and His Majesty the Emperor of China, at Tientsin, in the Province of Chihli, 27th June, 1858.
Art. I.—The magistrate of Si-lin Hien, guilty of the murder of the French missionary Auguste Chappedelaine, shall be degraded and declared incapable hence- forth of holding any office.
Art. II. His Excellency the Minister of France in China shall be notified by official communication of the execution of this measure, which shall also be duly published in explanatory terms in the Peking Gazette.
Art. III. An indemnity shall be paid to the French subjects and others under the protection of France whose property was pillaged or burnt by the populace of Canton before the taking of that town by the allied troops of France and England, This indemnity shall be divided amongst them pro rata to their losses.
Art. IV. The expense occasioned by the large armaments which the obstinate refusal of the Chinese authorities to accord to France the satisfaction and indemnity claimed has rendered necessary shall be paid to the Government of His Majesty the Emperor of the French by the Customs at Canton.
These indemnities and military expenses amount to a sum of about two million taels (Tls. 2,000,000); this amount shall be paid into the hands of the Minister of France in China, who shall give a discharge for it. This sum of two million taels shall be paid in yearly instalments of one-sixth for six years to His Excellency the Minister of France in China by the Canton Customs; payment may be made in money, or in Customs bonds, which shall be received by that administration in payment of export and import duties, and for a tenth only of the sum which may have to be paid, that is to say, a merchant owes, for example, to the Canton Customs a sum of ten thousand taels, for import or export duties, he may pay nine thousand in money and one thousand in the bonds.
The first sixth shall be paid during the course of the year following the signature of the present treaty, counting from the date of signature.
The Customs of Canton will not, if they so desire, be bound to accept in payment of duties more than the sixth of the bonds issued, that is, not more than a sum of 333,333 taels. A mixed commission named at Canton by the Chinese authorities and the Minister of France shall decide in advance the mode of issuing these bonds, and the rules which shall determine their form, value, and mode of destruction when they shall have served their purpose.
Art. V.—The French troops shall evacuate Canton as soon as possible after the integral payment of the sum of two million taels stipulated above; but in order to hasten the departure of these troops, Customs bonds may be issued in advance for a series of six years and lodged with the Legation of France in China.
Art. VI. The above Articles shall have the same force and value as if they were embodied word for word in the treaty, of which they form a part, and the respective plenipotentiaries have signed them, &c.
Done at Tientsin, 27th June, 1858.