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Government enter into possession of this line before the appropriate sum is deposited in the Russian State Bank.

The day when the line is finished and traffic is in operation, the Company will make to the Chinese Government a payment of five million Kuping taels (Kuping Tls. 5,000,000).

Kuang Hsü, 22nd year,

8th month, 2nd day. (Signed) SHU.

Berlin, August 27/September 8, 1896.
RUSSO-CHINESE BANK

(Signed) ROTHSTEIN.

(Signed) PRINCE ОUKHTOMSKY.

APPENDIX III

The Russo-Chinese Bank was subsequently merged with the Banque du Nord under the name of the Russo-Asiatic Bank (Banque Russo-Asiatique) by a charter approved by the Russian Minister of Finance on July 30/August 12, 1910 (Sobranie Uzakonenii i Rasporyazhenii Pravitelstva, § 719, October 2/15, 1910, No. 96, Section 1). For extracts embodying the substance of the original charter of the Russo-Chinese Bank, under date of December 10/22 see Rockhill, p. 207. At page 185 of Shina Kankei Tokushu Joyaku Isan is given the Japanese translation of an agreement stated to have been concluded on the 20th day of the 7th moon of the 22nd year of Kuang Hsü (August 28, 1896) in regard to the Russo-Chinese Bank Association. The text, apparently translated from a Chinese original, is obscure; but the following is an approximate rendering:

Alleged Agreement between China and Russia regarding RussoChinese Bank Association.-August 28, 1896.

"Hsü, Chinese Minister Plenipotentiary to Russia, in pursuance of Imperial Orders of the 20th day of the 7th month of the 22nd year of Kuang Hsü, signed the following agreement in regard to the Russo-Chinese Bank Association:

"1.-The Chinese Government shall contribute a capital of 5,000,000 Kuping taels, and undertake the business in the form of an association under the name of the Russo-Chinese Bank. That is to say that, from the date that this amount is handed over

to the Bank, all profit and loss will be borne in proportion to shares.

"2.-When a general account is made up on the first day of the first month of the Russian calendar, the account of profit and loss of the Chinese Government up to the end of the year shall be calculated in Kuping taels, in proportion to the shares held by the Chinese Government.

"3.-With regard to the profits which are obtained in accordance with the Statutes of the Bank, after first deducting a certain portion which is to be offered to the Bank Manager (s) as a bonus in reward for diligence, the remainder of the profits shall be divided between the Chinese Government and the Bank in proportion to the shares held by each. Provided, however, that 10% shall be deducted from the profits of the dividends as a reserve fund, and that when the profit exceeds 6% of the capital, 20% shall be deducted from the amount that exceeds 6%, and shall be given as a bonus to the Manager (s). If there is a loss in the business, the loss for which the Chinese Government is liable shall be paid out of the reserve fund.

"4.-The monthly and annual reports of the said Bank shall, after obtaining the consent of the general meeting of shareholders, be transmitted by the Manager of the Bank residing in China to the Manager of the Chinese Eastern Railway appointed by the Chinese Government. After he has inspected them, the reports shall be returned.

"5.-If the Bank in question is closed as a result of circumstances or on account of losses, what remains of the capital is to be returned to the Chinese Government if, after balancing the accounts, the loss is found to be small."

APPENDIX IV

It was long persistently rumored that the concession for the Chinese Eastern Railway was a first-fruit of a secret political agreement between China and Russia, which attained notoriety under the name of "The Cassini Convention." In its issue of October 30, 1896, the North China Herald published what purported to be a translation of that Convention, in an article which is of sufficient historical interest to warrant its reproduction in full, as follows:

4-4

The Cassini Convention.

"28th Oct. "As our Peking correspondent told us in his last letter, Count Cassini, the Russian Minister left Peking for Russia on the 30th of September. His baggage had been packed for three or more weeks, and the carts and mule litters were actually standing in the courts of the Russian Legation, but the Minister would not go until he could take with him duly signed and sealed 'an important agreement supposed to be the right of way for the Siberian railway across northern Manchuria.' With great difficulty we have succeeded in obtaining a copy of this agreement, and we now proceed to give an English translation of it. The numbers to the various clauses in this Convention have been added by us for convenience' sake:

"A SPECIAL CONVENTION BETWEEN CHINA AND RUSSIA.

"His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of China having received the various benefits arising from the loyal support of His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of Russia at the close of the late war between China and Japan, and being desirous that the communications between the frontier territories of their respective empires and the international commerce of the two countries be managed to their mutual advantage, has commanded the mutual settlement of certain matters in order the better to consolidate the basis of friendship between the two empires. In this connection, therefore, H.I.M. the Emperor of China has specially appointed the Imperial High Commissioners the Princes and Great Officers of the Crown composing the Imperial Chinese Ministry of War, with plenipotentiary powers, to confer and agree upon certain matters, at Peking, with His Excellency Count Cassini, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of H.I.M. the Emperor of Russia to the Court of China, concerning the connecting of the railway system of the Three Eastern Provinces [Fêngtien, Kirin, and Heilungchiang] with that of the Imperial Russian railway in the province of Siberia, with the object of facilitating the transport of goods between the two empires and of strengthening the frontier defences and seacoasts. And, furthermore, to agree upon certain special privileges to be conceded by China to Russia as a response to the loyal aid given by Russia in the retrocession of Liaotung and its dependencies.

"1. Owing to the fact that the Russian Great Siberian Railway is on the point of completion, China consents to allow Russia to prolong her railway into Chinese territories (a) from the Russian port of Vladivostok into the Chinese city of Hunch'un in the province of Kirin, from thence northwestwards to the provincial capital of Kirin, and (b) from a railway station of some city. in Siberia to the Chinese town of Aiyun in Heilungchiang province, from thence southwestwards to the provincial capital of Tsitsihar and from thence to the town of Petunê, in Kirin province, and from thence southeastwards to the provincial capital of Kirin.

"2.-All railways built by Russia into the Chinese provinces of Heilungchiang and Kirin shall be built at the sole expense of Russia and the regulations and building thereof shall be solely on the Russian system, with which China has nothing to do, and the entire control shall be in the hands of Russia for the space of thirty years. At the end of the said period China shall be allowed to prepare the necessary funds wherewith, after proper estimation of the value of the said railways, she shall redeem them, the rolling stock, machine shops, and buildings connected therewith. But as to how China will at that date redeem these railways shall be left for future consideration.

"3.-China is now in the possession of a railway which she intends to extend from Shanhaikuan into the provincial capital of Fêngtien, namely Moukden (Shengking), and from Moukden to the provincial capital of Kirin. If China should hereafter find it inconvenient to build this road she shall allow Russia to provide the funds to build the railway from the city of Kirin, on behalf of China, the redemption of which road shall be permissible to China at the end of ten years. With reference to the route to be taken by this railway, Russia shall follow the surveys already made by China in connection therewith, from Kirin to Moukden, Newchwang, etc.

"4.-The railway to be built by China beginning from Shanhaikuan, in Fêngtien, to Newchwang, to Kaiping, to Chinchou, to Lushunk'ou [Port Arthur], and to Talienwan, and their dependencies, shall follow the Russian Railway regulations in order to facilitate the commercial intercourse between the respective Empires.

"5.-With reference to the railways to be built by Russia into Chinese territory, the routes along which the said roads shall pass must be protected, as usual, by the local civil and military officials

of the country. They shall, moreover, afford all facilities and aid to the civil and military officials of Russia at the various railway stations, together with all the Russian artisans and labourers connected therewith. But owing to the fact that the said railways will pass for the greater part through barren and sparsely inhabited territory in which it will be difficult for the Chinese authorities to be always able to grant the necessary protection and aid, Russia shall be allowed to place special battalions of horse and foot soldiers at the various important stations for the better protection of the railway property.

"6.-With reference to the Customs duties to be collected on goods exported from and imported into the respective countries by the said railways, they shall follow the regulations provided by the Treaty of Commerce between China and Russia, ratified in the 1st year of the reign of T'sung Chih, 4th day, 2nd moon [20th February 1862 O.S.], regulating overland transit of goods between the two empires.

"7.-There has always been in existence a rule prohibiting the exploitation of the mines in Heilungchiang and Kirin provinces and in the Ch'angpai mountains [Long White Mountain range]. After the ratification of this treaty, Russians and subjects of the Chinese empire shall be permitted hereafter to exploit and open any of the mines therein mentioned; but before doing so they shall be required first to petition the Chinese local authorities on the subject who, on the other hand, shall grant the necessary commissions (huchao) in accordance with the mining regulations in force in China Proper.

"8.-Although there exist certain battalions of foreign-drilled troops (Lienchun) in the Three Eastern Provinces, yet the greater portion of the local territorial army corps thereof still follow the ancient regulations of the empire. Should, therefore, China in the future require to reform in accordance with the Western system the whole army organization of the said provinces, she shall be permitted to engage from Russia qualified military officers for that purpose and the rules for the guidance of this arrangement shall be in accordance with those obtaining in the Liangkiang provinces in regard to the German military officers now engaged there.

"9.-Russia has never possessed a seaport in Asia which is free from ice and open all the year round. If, therefore, there should suddenly arise military operations in this continent it will naturally be difficult for the Russian Eastern Seas and Pacific fleets to move about freely and at pleasure. As China is well aware of

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