202 ALLIANCE WITH TURKEY. condah. The raja of Mysore was restored and obtained a share. The peishwa was offered a share, but obtained none; as he declined the conditions of a defensive alliance. On the capture of Seringapatam there were found in Tippoo's Library1 a correspondence with France, the Isle of France, and with Napoleon in Egypt. Also letters to Constantinople, calling upon the Sultan to defend the faithful, who were in danger from the English power. The Porte took the side of the English. Tippoo wrote also to Zemaun Shah at Cabool, and to the other native princes of India. Mission to Persia, 1799. Captain (afterwards Sir J.) Malcolm was sent to Persia as ambassador. He sailed from Bombay in the end of 1799, arrived in Persia in 1800 and in 1801, commercial and political treaties were signed between the British and Persian governments. It was known that the French had landed in Egypt; but the result of that expedition was yet unknown. We had destroyed the French fleet on the 1st of August, 1798, at the bay of Aboukir. The attempt to invade India via Persia was a probable event. Sir J. M'Neill, formerly ambas' Mill, vol. vi. p. 154. 1 PLAN FOR INVADING INDIA. 203 sador at the Persian court, in his "Progress and present Position of Russia" (1838), states that "Prince Nassau Siegen presented to Catherine of Russia in 1787, a project, drawn up by a Frenchman, for marching an army through Bokhara and Cashmeer to Bengal, to drive the English out of India, this to be preceded by a manifesto declarative of the intention to re-establish the Great Moghul2 on the throne of India; and though Potemkin derided it, the plan was favorably received by the empress; and has never been forgotten in Russia." We know that Napoleon and the Emperor of Russia in a secret treaty at Tilsit in 1807, had formed a plan for the invasion of India. Mehdi Ali Khan had been sent to the Persian court early in 1799, in consequence of Zemaun Shah's march into the Punjab. The Marquis Wellesley had now more extended views as to his policy in regard to Persia. He wrote to the Court of Directors:3 66 The policy which dictated my opinion, was calculated to provide not only against the menaced invasion Sir J. M'Neill, p. 46. 2 He had been in the hands of the Mahrattahs since 1771. 3 Despatches, vol. ii. p. 578.-28th September, 1891. 204 CONNEXION OF ZEMAUN WITH TIPPOO. of Zemaun Shah, but also against the views which other powers may entertain of attacking the British possessions in India. The object is important in proportion to the hazard to which the British interests would be exposed, by a connexion between the court of Persia, and those European powers, whose views have long been directed to this quarter of the British dominions.' Great advantages in a commercial point of view, were likewise to be expected from the connexion which I proposed to form with the court of Persia." He wrote that Zemaun Shah of Cabool had formed a connexion with Tippoo Sultan in 1798, and now contrasted the present state of affairs, by the vicinity of the King of Persia's force to Affghanistan. The marquis desired to exclude our enemies from the Persian sea-ports; to secure the commerce of the gulf of Persia, and the settlements of British merchants in the ports of the Persian dominions.2 Malcolm had made advantageous arrangements with the imaum of Muscat, and had produced on the mind of the The policy of England towards Persia has been very unstatesman-like,-half-and-half measures. 2 The people of Asiatic countries are too poor to take much of our manufactures. TREATY TO DEFEND PERSIA. 205 pasha of Bagdad an impression favourable to British interests. By the treaty it was stipulated,' "That the King of Persia should lay waste with a great army, the country of the Affghans, if ever they should proceed to the invasion of India, and conclude no peace without engagements binding them to abstain from all aggressions upon the English. That should any army belonging to the French, attempt to form any settlement on any of the islands or shores of Persia, a force should be employed by the two contracting states to cooperate for their extirpation; and that if even any individuals of the French nation should request permission to reside in Persia, it should not be granted." The English bound themselves to defend Persia against the French or Affghans. We never dreamed of the Russians. 'Mill, vol. vi. p. 187. CHAPTER VIII. EXPEDITION TO EGYPT. On the 18th June, 1798, the Secret Committees of the Court of Directors' wrote to the Governor general that they had been informed by his Majesty's ministers that a large armament had sailed from Toulon on the 19th May, 1798, and that it was not impossible that India might be the object of attack, "by way of the Red Sea, or its coast, after the conquest of Egypt; or even by the Black Sea; or by Bussora." That his Majesty's ministers intended to send at least 4000 more troops to India. It was not till the 18th October, 1798, that the Governor-general received authentic intelligence of the invasion of Egypt. The Marquis Wellesley was in favour of the proposal to aid the expedition to Egypt, which was to be despatched from England under General Sir Ralph Abercrombie. Lord Elgin, the ambassador at Constantinople, wrote the |