CONVENTION OF PEACE BETWEEN THE EMPERORS OF
FRANCE AND CHINA.
TRANSLATED FROM THE CHINESE TEXT.
Their Imperial Majesties, the Emperors of China and France, being desirous to resume the amicable relations that of yore existed, and to effect a peaceable settlement of the points in which their Governments disagree, have for this purpose appointed Plenipotentiaries, that is to say:-His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China, His Imperial Highness the Prince of Kung, and His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of France, Baron Gros, who, having communicated to each other their full powers, and finding the same to be in proper order, now append the Articles of the Convention, as by them determined.
Art. I. His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China deeply regrets that the Representative of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of France, when on his way, in 1859, to Peking, for the purpose of exchanging Treaty Ratifications, should have been obstructed on his arrival at Taku by the soldiers that were there.
Art. 11.-The Representative of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of France, when visiting Peking to exchange Treaty Ratifications, shall, whether on the way or at the capital, be treated by all Chinese officials with the highest consideration.
[Literally, "shall receive from all Chinese officials the most polite and most considerate treatment due to an Ambassador, so that he may without prejudice assert his position, authority, or rights."]
Art. III. The provisions of the Tientsin Treaty of 1858, and of the Supplementary Articles, except in so far as modified by the present Convention, shall without delay come into operation, as soon as the Ratifications of the Treaty aforesaid shall have been exchanged.
Art. IV. The fourth Article of the Treaty concluded at Tientsin in the year 1858, by which it was provided that an Indemnity of Two Millions of Taels should be paid by the Chinese Government, is hereby annulled; and it is agreed, in the stead thereof, that the amount of the Indemnity shall be Eight Millions of Taels. [Of that sum] the Canton Customs last year paid Three hundred and thirty-three thousand three hundred and thirty-three Taels; the remainder (Tls. 7,666,666) shall be collected from the various Custom Houses, which shall pay quarterly one-fifth of duties received by them, and the first quarterly payment shall be due on the 31st December, 1860. The payments may be in either Hae-kwan Sycee or foreign coin, and shall be made to either the Representative of France resident in China, or the officer by him deputed. But, on or before the 30th November, there shall be paid at Tientsin a sum of Five hundred thousand Taels. The French Representative and the Chinese High officers shall hereafter, respectively appoint deputies to consult together and arrange the manner in which the instalments are to be paid and receipts granted.
Art. V.—The money to be paid by China is on account of French military expenditure, and losses sustained by French merchants and others under French protection, whose Hongs and chattels at Canton were burnt and plundered by the populace. The French Government will at a future period divide the money in fair
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