Directory_and_Chronicle_1864 — Page 363

XXXVI

TREATY BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA.

eral) of Kiachta for transmission to the officer of the board. The despatches of the High officer stationed at Koolun shall be handed to the officer of the board for trans- mission to the Ko-me-sa-urh of Kiachta. The despatches of the Koo-pih-urh-na-to- urh of the Amoor province, shall be forwarded to the Tartar General at Hih-lung- keang, through the Adjutant General of Aykom; the said Adjutant General shall likewise transmit the despatches of the Kee-lin General. Despatches passing between the Koo-pih-nrh-na-to-urh of the Tung-hae-peen province and the General stationed at Kee-lin, shall be transmitted through the officers at the frontier ports of Hongchun in the Usuri territory. Communications between the Governor General of Western Siberia and the General stationed at Ili, shall be transmitted through the Russian Con- sul at Ili. Whenever the business in question is of great importance, official mes- sengers shall be employed. The Governor General of Eastern and Western Siberia and the various Koo-pih-urh-na-to urh (? Governors of Provincial Districts), together with the High officer at Koo-lun, and the Tartar General stationed at Hih-lung-koang, Kee-lin, and Ili, in the transmission of official communications, may entrust them to trustworthy Russian officers.

Art. XII. As was stipulated for in the eleventh article of the Tien-tsin Treaty, the time allowed for the conveyance of official documents and parcels from Kiachta to Peking is herein defined.

Letters shall be forwarded once a month. Parcels and boxes, from Kiachta to Peking, shall be forwarded once every two months, and quarterly from Peking to Kiachta. Official decuments shall not be more than twenty, nor parcels more than forty days, en route; and as regards parcels, there shall never be more than twenty packages forwarded at a time, and no single package shall exceed 120 catries in weight. Letters shall not be delayed, but shall be forwarded on the day they are handed in for dispatch. In the event of any delay or neglect, the culpable parties shall be visited with severe punishment.

Couriers, in charge of letters or parcels between Kiachta and Peking, shall call at the Koo-lun consulate, and deliver to the Consul all letters or parcels to his ad- dress, and they shall likewise take charge of whatever despatches or parcels the Con- sul may hand to them.

Whenever parcels are dispatched from Kiachta or Koolun, the High officer at Koolun must be supplied with a list of the same; and, in like manner, when dispatch- ing parcels from Peking, the foreign office shall be supplied with a list. Such lists shall specify the number and weights of the packages, as also the date of their being dispatched; and on the outside of each package shall be written, in Russian and Manchurian or Chinese characters, its weight, &c.

Merchants forwarding letters and parcels for purpose of trade, if willing to hire porters themselves and to make other arrangements, shall be at liberty to do so, hav- ing obtained permission, after due report of the circumstances, from the local authori- ties, to obviate the [undue] incurring of expense on the government.

Art. XIII.-Official communications passing between the Russian Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Chinese Privy Council, or between the Governor General of Eastern Siberia and the Privy Council or Foreign Officer, shall be forwarded by the regular post, and shall be under no restrictions in respect of time; and should any delay or detention be apprehended, in cases of importance, trustworthy Russian Of- cers may be charged with the speedy conveyance of such despatches.

While resident at Peking, despatches on important business, for or from the Rus- sian Minister, may be transmitted by Officers appointed by the Russian Government. Officers conveying such despatches shall not at any place be delayed or detained; and, in every instance, such bearers of despatches shall be Russians.

As regards the movements of such despatch-bearers, if travelling from Kiachta to Peking, the Ko-me-sa-urh shall notify the officer of the Board on the day preced-