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38 Sháh by his brother Mahmúd, left Anglo-Indian statesmen free from further alarms, until the Peace of Tilsit, concluded between Buonaparte and the Tzar in 1807, once more turned their minds towards the safeguarding of the Indian frontiers. Under the auspices of Lord Minto, then Governor-General, treaties of alliance were made in 1809 with Ranjít Singh, with the Afghán Sháh Shujá at Pesháwar, and with the Sháh of Persia at Teherán.

Hardly had Lord Minto ratified Elphinstone's treaty with Sháh Shujá, in 1810, when that monarch shared the fate of his exiled brother, Zemán Sháh. All fear of danger from French ambition passed away even before Buonaparte's retreat from Moscow. For some years Afghánistán was torn in pieces by intestine wars and plottings among rival chiefs of the Saduzai and Bárakzái clans. Ranjít Singh was adding fresh provinces to the great Sikh kingdom which he himself had founded. The progress of Russian arms towards the Caspian and the Sea of Aral awakened no misgivings in England, among those who remembered how loyally the Tzar had fought for us during the last years of our war with France. Persia was losing province after province to her northern foe, but in spite of former treaties neither the English nor the Indian Government would step forward in her behalf. An excuse for holding back was found in the allegation, which may have been literally true, that Persia had struck the first blow. Little thought was given to the previous provocations. Not until