tional upon a certain amount of gold being placed at her disposal by 
Russia in advance. The negotiations dragged along without any 
result. Finally, Russia yielded only after France, which had also 
asked that credits be opened for her in England, declared her readi- 
ness to export there a portion of her gold. The Russian Minister 
of Finance was thus placed in an awkward position and had to give 
in, He succeeded, however, in securing special terms for Russia. It 
was agreed, namely, that the gold would be returned to Russia after 
the end of the war. Furthermore, the Russian Government reserved 
the right to keep the arrangement secret, so as to keep the impair- 
ment of the gold reserve from affecting in an injurious manner the 
balance sheet of the State Bank. The British Treasury also con- 
sented to open in favor of Russia a non-negotiable credit to the 
amount of £200,000,000, which was to appear in the statements of 
the Russian State Bank as gold held abroad. We quote below 
a translation of the full text of the agreement relating to deliveries 
of Russian gold. 
Art. 2. “In view of the arrangement concluded between the 
British Government and the Government of the French Republic, 
under the terms of which each of the two contracting Governments 
is to, make available an amount of £40,000,000 for exportation to 
the United States, the Russian Government is ready to place gold 
at the disposal of the British Government, at such times and in 
such quantities as gold will be exported hy the French Government. 
The Russian Government will, however, be under no obligation to 
export more than £20,000,000 up to March 3ist, 1916, or, under 
any circumstances, more than a total of £40,000,0000, and: this with 
the general understanding that exports will be effected only as the 
need thereof will he determined by the Bank of England. The gold 
thus exported by the Russian Government will be applied by it to 
the purchase of bonds of the British Treasury, bearing no interest, 
redeemable in gold, and maturing in 3, 3%, 4 and 4% years, in 
series of equal amounts. Said bonds will be held by the Russian 
Government until maturity. 
Art. 6. “In view of the issue of bank notes in Russia, and, as 
a temporary measure until such time as Russia shall have success- 
fully funded her domestic debt, the Government of His Britannic 
Majesty is ready to effect with the Russian Government an ex- 
change of obligations of equal value, which shall be remitted in 
Installments at the order of the Russian Government and shall not 
exceed the aggregate amount of £200,000,000 in British currency. 
On the part of the Russian Government, these obligations shall 
consist of Russian Treasury bonds bearing no interest. On the 
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