he support of
Persia on the flank, became a contingency which an Indian
governor-general could not afford to neglect. It is, indeed, strange
that a march across Europe and half of Asia should have appeared to
Napoleon more practicable than a voyage across the English Channel, and
it is highly improbable that he would have cherished the idea of it, if
he could have foreseen the perils of the Russian expedition. But his
conversations at St. Helena prove that it was not a mere vision but a
half-formed design, and, even after it had been discouraged by Russia,
he sent a preliminary mission to Persia. Minto lost no time in sending
counter-missions, not only to Tihran, but to Lahore, Afghanistan, and
Sind.

The Persian court was already in diplomatic relations with the Indian
government. Colonel Malcolm, afterwards Sir John Malcolm, had been sent
by Wellesley as envoy to the shah at the end of 1800, and in January,
1801, a treaty had been signed, establishing free trade between India
and Persia, and binding the shah to exclude the French from his
dominions, while the company undertook to provide ships, troops, and
stores, in case of French invasion. This treaty, however, neither was
nor could have been actively carried out on either side. Early in 1806
the shah, who had become embroiled with Russia, appealed to Calcutta for
aid, regardless of the fact that hostilities with Russia were not a
_casus foederis_. Failing to obtain it, he appealed to France.
Napoleon despatched General Gardane, who arrived in December, 1807. He
obtained a treaty under which the shah engaged to banish all Englishmen
on demand of the French emperor. Thereupon Malcolm was entrusted by
Minto with a fresh mission, but never reached the Persian capital, where
French influence was still paramount, and the peremptory tone of
Malcolm's letters was resented. Meanwhile, Sir Harford Jones had been
sent out by the British foreign office, and was received at Tihran in
February, 1809, the peace of Tilsit having destroyed the Persian hope of
French support against Russia. For a while, the right of negotiating
with the shah was in dispute between the Indian government and the
foreign office, and Sir John Malcolm reappeared at Tihran in the spring
of 1810, as the representative of the former. In the end, however, he
co-operated loyally with Jones, and a fresh treaty was signed, though
both these rival emissaries were soon afterwards superseded by Sir Gore
Ouseley a