This progress alarmed the Chinese, who resolved to set bounds to it. Forts were erected to restrain a neighbour, who, advancing nearer every day, by the river Amour, the Eastern Sea, and the Selinga, insensibly approached the frontiers of China. These defensive measures were the source of very warm disputes between the two empires upon the subject of their respective boundaries; a few hostilities took place, and at last an open rupture. Many years were spent in besieging places, in demolishing and erecting them in turns, till the year 1689, when the two courts, by the mediation of father Gerbillon and father Pereira, Jesuits, authorised by the emperor of China, signed, at Nertschinsk, a treaty of peace and perpetual alliance[102], which was to be engraven on two stones or posts erected on the confines of each empire.
By this reciprocity, there was a free commerce secured to all the subjects of the two powers, who were furnished with passports by their courts. Meanwhile China had taken care to be paid for her condescension by the surrenders she demanded of Russia, who lost not only an important part of its possessions, but the navigation of the river Amour as far as the Eastern Sea.
To make amends, or with a view of deriving greater advantages from this commerce, Tzar[103] Peter the Great commissioned, in 1692, Isbrand Ives, a Dutchman, in his service, to ask of the court of Pekin, the same privilege for caravans, which the late treaty granted to individuals. The result of the embassy corresponded with the desires of the court of Petersburg; the caravans were admitted; and as the court reserved to itself the exclusive right of sending them, it received the whole of the profit[104]. These journeys lasted three years; caravanseries, for the exchange of their commodities, were appointed for the Russian merchants who composed the caravans, and during their stay at Pekin their expences were discharged by the emperor.
This calm did not long continue between the two powers. New troubles, occasioned by the misconduct, drunkenness, and insolent proceedings of some Russians, in the midst even of the Chinese capital, had nearly annihilated their commerce. The embassy of Ismaïloff saved it. By the skill of this negociator, captain of the guards to the Tzar, the disorders were stopped, and the complaints suppressed; security and confidence succeeded to this misunderstanding. To preserve this happy disposition, Laurent Lange remained at Pekin, under the denomination of agent to the Russian caravans.
Upon, the departure of this resident, affairs continually declined and the enormities of the Russians increased. They excited the pride and distrust, natural to the Chinese. The refusal to deliver up a number of hordes of Mongouls, who were become tributary to the Tzar, completed the indignation of the emperor; every Russian was banished from his territories, and there was no longer any communication between the two nations.
In 1727, count Ragouzinskoi, ambassador from Russia to the successor of the vindictive Kam-hi, effected the renewal of these commercial ties by a new treaty, that fixed irrevocably the bounds of each empire[105], and subjected the merchants to an invariable regulation, calculated for ever to remove all source of division.
The court of Russia was permitted to send a caravan to Pekin once in three years, and the number of merchants was limited to two hundred. On their arrival at the frontiers of China, they were to inform the emperor, that a Chinese officer might be sent to escort them to the metropolis, where their expences would be defrayed during the time of their traffic. It was agreed also that the merchandize belonging to individuals should not pass the frontier, and that they should no longer enjoy the privilege of trading in any of the Chinese or Mongoul territories. Of consequence, two places were assigned them on the confines of Siberia, the one called Kiakhta, from a stream that waters the environs, the other Zurukhaire[106], situated on the left bank of the Argoun, and they were obliged to deposit their merchandize in the magazines of these two settlements.
In spite of the solemn ratification of all the clauses of this compact, its execution encountered various impediments; the leaven of resentment fermented, or dishonesty gave birth to fresh knaveries. Be this as it may, in the space of twenty seven years, only six caravans sat out from Russia; and after the last envoy this commerce fell into a state of languor consequent upon the loss of credit.
I suppress the detail of grievances alledged by the Chinese against the Russians. Many well known historians have given an account of the complaints that occasioned the successive emigrations of the Kalmouk Tartars, and a multitude of Toungouses, who were all received by the court of Petersburg; we have seen its subtle policy, moderate and threatening in turns, always evading the satisfaction demanded by China.
These disputes continued till the accession of the reigning empress. No sooner had Catherine II. ascended the throne, than she renounced, in favour of her subjects, the monopoly of furs, and the exclusive right of sending caravans to Pekin. This act of justice and beneficence, worthy the genius and heart of this empress, was still insufficient to give to this commerce its antient vigour. The enmity between the two nations was farther heightened by the fickleness of these Toungouses, who, tired or discontented with their new establishment, suddenly eloped from the dominion of Russia, and returned to their country to replace themselves under the Chinese authority.