(1) The other day we issued a decree commanding the Tsungli Yamen to collate the treaties between this Empire and foreign countries and publish them as one work, for the purpose of distributing copies of them to every yamen within and without the capital, 30 that every official not only may not in the future affect ignorance of the treaties, but may also he able at any time to act up to them in his dealings with strangers from afar. We have now received a memorial from the Teungli Yamen stating that the collection and printing of the treaties will take some time to do, and recommending, for the nonce, that a work called A Cumpendinn of the Treaties, published by the Peiyang tinting and Lithographic Press, be first made use of and distributed throughout the Empire. We grant this memorial and hereby command the said Yamen to send dispatches to all the Viceroys and Governors of provinces, ordering them to send deputies to the Peiyang to receive th consignments of the said Compendium according to the number of them reguirod by their respective provinces, Nhe said Viceroys and Governors are further required to see to it that all the subordinate officials under them shall study these treaties thoroughly so. thit they may not display ignorance when called upon to deal with matters of into tional intercourse. Finally, the Tsunz Yamen is expected to work energetically upon the collection of these treaties to he printed and published in full, and as they relate to the important question of international relations the said Yamen shall appoint officers well versed in them to compare the proof sheets carefully so that the collection shall be as complete as possible and serve as a standard and authorised work for all time.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.