[CENTER][IMG=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8f/Greater_coat_of_arms_of_the_Russian_empire.png/436px-Greater_coat_of_arms_of_the_Russian_empire.png][/CENTER]

[CENTER][B]HIS IMPERIAL MAJESTY, THE EMPEROR AND AUTOCRAT OF ALL RUSSIA[/B][/CENTER]

From St. Petersburg
Addressed to Y.I. Alekseyev, OCC etc.

Admiral;

I am glad to hear of your reports in regards to our actions in Manchuria. Your service with the Gaselee expedition was worthy of reccomendation, and I am sure that you will not make me regret your appointment as Viceroy of Tataria. As the head of the provisional, military administration your immediate tasks are to re-establish order and justice in Tataria. Your actions concerning this undertaken within the ranks of the Cossacks are just and carry my complete approval. Truly, to Russia is the task to civilise the peoples here, like a mother and her children.

Admiral; To you is the task to establish a permanent, Russian-oriented administration in these territories. I will not claim to be an expert on these matters, but it seems important to me that if we are to create a lasting nation-state, we must set out to create a seperate Manchu identity. To utilise this we must cultivate nationalism amongst the native Manchu as well as spreading the True Faith amongst the Manchu and Chinese aside from sending Russian settlers to the region. It is to my understanding that many Han Chinese farmers have been imported, so to say, to work the fields of this country. If you deem it necessary, it may be possible to expel them from the region to set up a favourable balance, perhaps under the pretext to 'make room for the Russians', to bluntly put it.

However, your current task is to set up a state and all related institutions for Tataria. I shall leave to you many liberties in its organisation, but I order the creation of a monarchy, where I shall become the Emperor of Tataria, and I shall immediately appoint you as my First Minister to organise this land as best as you can. It also seems to me that Harbin, an important city with a Russian presence and connected to the Far Eastern Railway is most suited to be the capital. I give you my personal assurances that I shall work to the fullest that you shall be succesful; I shall direct the Trans-Siberian railway to branch into Tataria so its economy may thrive and as I mentioned before, I shall send settlers to the entire region, and Harbin in particular, to create a safe Russian, Christian area as the nerve centre for this region.

I wish you all the best in your endeavours and assure you that your every request and suggestion shall receive my personal attention.

Signed,

The Emperor and Autocrat of All Russia.