ABSTRACT
The departure of Sokov and the signing of the Chira agreement brought to an end the systematic registration of new Russian subjects in Kashgaria. But Macartney was taking no chances and the chief purpose of his six week tour of the southern oases was to register British subjects. If the Russians should resume their policy, which the Chira agreement had done nothing to prohibit, Macartney had no intention of allowing them to draw British subjects into their net. The Chinese cooperated with Macartney despite their experience with Behrens, and he was accompanied on his tour by an official of the new Foreign Affairs Office which the Governor had established at each of the three towns in the province where there was a foreign consul. Behind the Chinese cooperation with Macartney were several factors: they found it useful to have a British community and a British consul to counterbalance the Andijanis, and the Chinese officials no doubt realized how much they had been helped in resisting Russian pressure by the presence of Macartney. It was also in their own interest to put an end to interminable wranglings by establishing who precisely could claim exemption from customs dues. Thirdly, their experience of Macartney gave them every confidence in his moderation and justice, and they could be sure that he would make no attempt to copy Behrens’s tactics. This was borne out by Macartney’s behaviour at Yarkand where in deference to the Amban’s wishes he accepted for registration only children of immigrants whose fathers had died less than ten years before or who were themselves less than forty years old, on the grounds that those who did not so qualify had given up all intention of returning to India.
