Directory_and_Chronicle_1864 — Page 361

XXXIV

TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA.

granted for burial purposes, and as at Ili and Tarbagatai, a tract of pasture land for cattle. The high officer stationed at Kashgar shall be officially directed to determine the amount of ground to be granted for the above purposes, and to make the other requisite arrangements.

Should people from the outside enter the Russian concessions at Kashgar, and plunder the property of Russian merchants trading there, China will not take any action in the matter.

Art. VII.-The merchants of both countries may trade as they please at the various marts, and shall not be subjected to any obstructions on the part of the offi- cials; they 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, shall receive due protection from the government of the country.

In order to the due control of merchants, and to provide against misunderstand- ings and disputes, Russian Consuls, &c., may be stationed 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 Consuls, whether Russian or Chinese, shall reside in houses to be built by their government; but they may like- wise, 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, as provided for by the second article of the Tien-tsin 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 Tien-tsin Treaty.

In all cases of disputes originating in the non-payment of money due in mercan- tile 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 Consula 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 agree- ment, the Consuls and local 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 sonjointly 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 event of Chinese hiding in Russian houses or escaping to Russian territory.

In such serious cases as murder, robbery, wounding, conspiracy to kill, incendia- risma, &c., &c., the guilty party, if Russian, shall 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 Con- suls 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.]

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