HISTOEICAL SKETCH. 1 5 



lu 1855 Governor- General Moura^^ov laid upon his successor General Korsakov the 

 task of the immediate and rapid realization of a Russian colonization along the course of the 

 Ainuur. Emigrants were invited from the governments of Irkutsk and Zahaikal and owing to 

 the numerous advantages offered in the form of liberation from military service, State provi- 

 sion for two years and the supply of agricultural implements, the number of applicants proved 

 far greater tlian was at first thought necessary. 



The flow of emigrants and arms continued during the following years, notwithstanding 

 the expressed dissatisfaction of the Chinese authorities and in the meanwhile the diplomatic 

 negotiations led to no results, due to the voluntary drlatoriness of the Chinese officials. 



At length a project of a treaty was composed at Aigun in 1857 and handed to the 

 consideration of the Chinese Government. In order to reserve himself the higher authority in 

 the case of any misunderstanding General Mouraviov entrusted the ultimate direction of the 

 negotiations to Perovski and thanks to the firmness of the latter the treaty was signed on 

 the 16th day of May. The left banks of the Amour from Argun to the mouth were ceded 

 to Russia and the right banks as far as the Ussuri, to China; only Russian and Chinese vessels 

 were allowed to navigate the Amour, Sungari and Ussuri; the Mandzhurian inhabitants of 

 the left banks of the Amour, from the river Zei on the south to the village of Harmandzin 

 were to remain in their former places of habitation, under the rule of a Mandzhurian governor, 

 there was to be free trade along all three rivers. These were the conditions of the Ai- 

 gun treaty. 



In order to enjoy the full advantages of this treaty it was necessary to colonize the 

 province of the Amour; to cultivate a Russian population in it and to open a steam navig-a- 

 tion along the Amour. And hence the Government came to the conclusion that it was necessary 

 to institute an obligatory Cossack colonization of the Amour, Ussuri, and of all the region of 

 the Ussuri. In 1858 Cossack stations were established along the left banks of the river from 

 the beginning of the Little Hingan mountain range to the mouth of the Ussuri, and a Cossack 

 colony was founded at the junction of the latter with the Amour, named after the first con- 

 queror of the Amour, Khabarovski; this was followed by the colony of Blagoveschensk at 

 the mouth of the Ze'i, of Sophisk and others. And in this manner the Russian rule over the 

 vast region of the Amour, was ultimately established. In 1860 there were already as many as 

 twelve thousand colonists of both sexes in the province of the Amour and there were 61 

 Cossack stations. In the same year Count Ignatiev after prolonged negotiations with the 

 Chinese Government succeeded in concluding the Pekin treaty by which the Chinese Govern- 

 ment ultimately recognized the Russian rule over the river Anu»ur and the entire region of 

 the Ussuri. This treaty also confirmed all the points of the Aigun treaty and of the Tiantsin 

 treaty previously made by Count Putiatin with the Chinese. 



The occupation of the Amour was tulliiwcd by a scientific survey of the Amour-Lit- 

 toral region. This was inaugurated by the Russian Geographical Society, which in 1858 had 

 opened an Eastern Siberian branch at Irkutsk. In 1854 the Society equipped its great Sibe- 

 rian expedition for the exploration of the regions of the Baikal, and especially of the Amour 

 Littoral province. This expedition included the astronomer Schwartz, naturalist Raddey, 

 geologist Schmidt, the envoy of the Eastern Siheriau branch, R. Maack, and also the envoy 



