Page:History of India Vol 8.djvu/401

Rh the Anglo-Indian governments were much startled by the activity of the French agents at Teheran and other Asiatic courts.

RANJIT SINGH'S SAMADH AT LAHORE.

It is from this period that we must date the embarcation of Anglo-Indian diplomacy upon a much wider sphere of action than heretofore. The English ministers soon discovered Napoleon's plan of an Asiatic campaign, and all his secret negotiations were thoroughly known to them. For the purpose of counteracting the French demonstrations and of throwing up barrier after barrier against the threatened expedition from the Black Sea and the Caspian, the Indian Governor-General, Lord Minto, sent missions to all the rulers of states on and beyond his northwestern border – to Ranjit Singh at Lahore, to the Afghan Amir, to