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CONVENTION BETWEEN RUSSIA AND CHINA.
161
at a time and no single package shall exceed 120 catties in weight. Letters shall not be delayed, but shall be forwarded on the day they are handed in for despatch. 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 address, and they shall likewise take charge of whatsoever despatches or parcels the Consul may hand to them.
Whenever parcels are despatched from Kiachta or Koo-lun, the High officer at Koo-lun must be supplied with a list of the same; in like manner, when despatching 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 despatched; 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, having obtained permission, after the report of the circumstances, from the local authorities, to obviate the [undue] incurring of expense on the government.
Art. 13.-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-office, 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 Officers may be charged with the speedy conveyance of such despatches.
While resident at Peking, despatches on important business, for or from the Russian 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 preceding their departure. Iu like manner, if starting from Peking, a day's notice shall be given to the Board of War.
Art. 14. Should any of the arrangements in respect of land commerce hereafter prove inconvenient to both parties, the Governor General of Eastern Siberia and the Chinese High officer of the Frontiers shall consult together, and determine the matter in accordance with the articles of this Convention; but new demands must not be preferred. There shall be no further departure from the provisions of the Twelfth article of the Tientsin Treaty.
Art. 15.-On the termination of the present conference, the Chinese Minister Plenipotentiary shall translate the original text of this convention into the Chinese language, and shall furnish the Russian Minister Plenipotentiary with a copy of the Chinese translation, duly authenticated by signature and seal, who, on his side, shall likewise translate into Chinese the original text of the convention, and shall supply the Chinese Minister Plenipotentiary with a copy of the same, in like manner duly authenticated by seal and signature.
The articles of the present convention, without waiting for the ratification of the same by their Imperial Majesties, the Emperors of the two countries, shall be in force, and for ever observed, from the day on which the translations into Chinese of the original text shall have been interchanged by the Ministers Plenipotentiary, who shall each forthwith issue whatever cominands may be necessary for the carrying into effect of the provisions of the convention.
Signed and sealed by His Imperial Highness the Prince of Kung, Chinese Minis- ter Plenipotentiary, and His Excellency the Privy Councillor, the Russian Minister Plenipotentiary, on the 2nd day of the 10th month of the 10th year of Hien Fung, i.e., the 2nd day of the month No-ya-poo-urh, in the year 1860, [4th November, 1860.]
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