Page:Eminent Chinese Of The Ch’ing Period - Hummel - 1943 - Vol. 2.pdf/184

 that the Russians purposely desired to frustrate the conference with the Torguts. The accusation is unfounded—the delay of fourteen months at Selenginsk, Irkutsk, and Saratov being in no sense the fault of the Russians.

In Peking, Tulišen had an audience with the Emperor, who was much pleased with the results of the expedition and officially accepted Tulišen's diary and a map of his journey. Tulišen was appointed assistant department director of the Board of War and later was promoted to a department directorship. It was at this time that Galdan's successor, Tsewang Araptan, invaded Hami in Chinese Turkestan and so provoked a conflict with China. In July of the same year Tulišen was once more sent to Selenginsk to dissuade the Russians from rendering assistance to the Eleuths.

When Emperor Shih-tsung succeeded to the throne he evinced a new interest in the personnel of the provincial administrations, especially the treasurers. Tulišen was dispatched (1723) to Kwangtung to inspect the provincial finances, and while there was appointed financial commissioner of the province. Early in 1725 he was transferred to Shensi, and a few months later was made governor of that province. During that and the following year, he was rebuked several times for partiality to Manchus and for other blunders. Late in 1726 he was recalled to Peking. There he became vice-president of the Board of War and in the following year was transferred to the Board of Civil Office. Possibly his recall was due to the presence in Peking of a Russian envoy who had come to confer on frontier and trade problems between the two countries.

The Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 (see under ) defined the boundary of north Manchuria, but did not mention the Mongolian boundary to the west of the Argun river. In the ensuing twenty-five years no important agreements concerning border questions had been reached although the Russians had sent, during that period, two embassies, one under Elizarü Izbrandt in the years 1692–95 and another one under Lev Vasīl'evīch Īzmaīlov (1685–1738) in the years 1719–22; and stationed an agent, Lorentz Lange, in Peking from 1722 to 1725. In 1725 a Russian envoy, Savva Lukich-Vladīslavīch (see under ), was sent to China witlr more power than had been given his predecessors: He stayed in Peking from November 1726 to May 1727, holding more than thirty conferences with three ministers, of whom Tulišen was one. At last, the general terms of a treaty in ten articles were agreed upon, after which the meeting shifted to Kiakhta on the Siberian border north of Urga where the boundary line between Mongolia and Siberia was to be determined. At first the chief Chinese representative was, but owing to his obstinacy, he was soon recalled, and the Mongolian Prince and Tulišen became the heads of the Chinese delegation. On August 31, 1727, general terms of an article defining the border were agreed to and on November 1 the final version of the Treaty of Kiakhta was drawn up. By the terms of this treaty the boundary between Mongolia and Siberia was established, much as it is at present. Two hundred Russian merchants were allowed to come to China to trade every third year and were permitted to erect a church on the premises of the Russian Hostel in Peking, In addition to the one priest already officiating, three more were allowed to conduct religious services for the descendants of the Russian captives (see under and ) and others of that nationality in Peking. Four Russian students and two tutors were granted leave to reside in the Hostel, and were subsidized by the Chinese government to study the Chinese, Mongol, and Manchu languages. This treaty, revised in 1768 and in 1792, governed the relations between the two countries until the treaties of 1858 and 1860 (see under and ). After 1737 the trade between the two countries shifted from Peking to Kiakhta. According to Russian sources (Cahen, pp. 215, 219, LXIV–LXV) the success of Vladislavich in reaching this agreement was due in part to the friendship of Grand Secretary who had charge of Sino-Russian affairs, and to the Jesuit missionary, Dominique Parrenin (see under ). The latter, who acted as interpreter and intermediary in Peking, is said to have established a code with the Russian delegation in Kiakhta to carry on a secret correspondence. We are told the Vladīslavīch promised Maci a present of two thousand roubles but, being short of funds after the treaty was concluded, paid him half that sum. Parrenin was given one hundred roubles.

After his return to Peking Tulišen was accused of "unlawful" conduct at the Treaty Conference because, after signing the treaty, he had ordered guns fired "to thank Heaven" and had, on his own initiative, erected wooden tablets to mark the boundary, when he should first have obtained 786