i8o  THE  CHINESE  EMPIRE
faults  on  both  sides,  as  is  always  the  case  where  a  bold
aggressive  race  comes,  especially  in  matters  of  trade,  in
contact  with  a  weaker  race  given  to  supplement  its  want  o
strength  by  methods  of  chicanery  and  indirectness  ,  u
underlying  everything  were  the  demand  for  equality  °
treatment  and  extraterritorial  rights  on  the  one  side,  an
on  the  other  a  stubborn  disinclination  to  yield  either,
second  war  became  necessary  in  which  the  French  jome
hands  with  the  English,  and  a  second  time  America  an
other  interested  powers  came  in  and  secured  treaties  simu
taneous  and  identical  with  those  signed  by  the  British  an
French  envoys.  These  treaties,  signed  independently  Y
Great  Britain,  France,  Russia,  and  the  United  States  in
1858,  by  Prussia  and  the  North  German  Confederation  111
1861,  and  by  other  powers  in  later  years,  are  still  the  chai  er
of  liberty  of  the  foreigner  resident  in  China  ;  and  in  eac  1  o
them,  in  addition  to  a  “  most  favored  nation  clause,  is
contained  the  stipulation  of  extraterritoriality.
The  earliest  treaties  with  China  were  made  by  Russia,
whose  envoys  came  by  the  Siberian  route,  and  whose
colonists  and  armed  forces  were  in  constant  conflict  wit  1
the  Manchus  and  the  sons  of  Han  on  the  long  frontier  of  t  ie
Amur  and  in  Central  Asia.  The  earliest  of  these  treaties,
that  of  Nipchu  (or  Nerchinsk)  signed  in  1689,  contains
(Art.  VI.)  the  following  provision  :—
“  If  hereafter  any  of  the  subjects  of  either  nation  pass
the  frontier  and  commit  crimes  of  violence  agains
property  or  life,  they  are  at  once  to  be  arrested  and
sent  to  the  frontier  of  their  own  country  and  hande
over  to  the  chief  local  authority,  who  will  inflict  on  them
the  death  penalty  as  a  punishment  of  their  crimes.
The  treaty  of  the  Frontier  (called  also  the  treaty  of
Kiakhta,  at  which  place  the  ratifications  were  exchanged)
signed  in  1727,  contains  (Art.  X.)  the  following  provision
“  Those  who  pass  the  frontier  and  steal  camels  o r
cattle  shall  be  handed  over  to  their  natural  judges
(leurs  '¡uges  naturels),  who  will  condemn  them  to  p&amp;Y
ten  times,  and  for  a  second  offence  twenty  times,