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astical and four lay members who were to be changed decennially, and who were to study the Chinese and Manchu languages for the purposes of intelligent communication between the two States. It has been concluded by some historians that the germ of this mission must be sought in a more remote event; namely, the removal of a number of Russians from Manchuria to Peking after the Treaty of Nerchinsk, and their incorporation in the Banner Troops. Another theory is that the Emperor Yungching, who occupied the throne at the time of Vladislavitch's arrival, welcomed the Russian mission as a means of counterbalancing the influence of the Jesuits, towards whom he did not entertain cordial sentiments. Whatever may be the exact truth as to those points, the fact has to be recorded that the Russian archimandrites lived peacefully and uninterruptedly in Peking, never coming into collision with the Chinese authorities and never allowing themselves to be drawn into the religious controversies which, as will presently be seen, did so much to discredit Christian propagandism. It must further be recorded that Russia's overland trade with the Middle Kingdom, conducted mainly at the frontier marts of Kiakhta and Maimaichin, never involved any serious complications, so that, on the whole, the relations between the two Empires were conspicuously free from violences, aggressions, and hostilities of every kind.

France also did not contribute anything to the