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CHAP. VI
RANJIT SINGH'S GOVERNMENT
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agreeable to the constitution of any political society, mi. its limits shall be fixed, or that the pervading means and spirit of a people shall rest, until its expansive force is authority destroyed and becomes obnoxious to change and decay, as leader of ^^'^^• Ranjit Singh grasped the more obvious characteristics ^^^ of the impulse given by N^nak and Gobind; he dexterously turned them to the purposes of his own material ambition, and he appeared to be an absolute monarch in the midst of willing and obedient subjects. But he knew that he merely directed into a particular channel a power which he could neither destroy nor control, and that, to prevent the Sikhs turning upon himself, or contending with one another, he must regularly engage them in conquest and remote warfare. The first political system of the emancipated Sikhs had crumbled to pieces, partly through its own defects, partly owing to its contact with a well-ordered and civilized government, and partly in consequence of the ascendancy of one superior mind. The 'Misals' had vanished, or were only represented by Ahluwalia and Patiala (or Phulkia), the one depending on the personal friendship oi Ranjit Singh for its chief, and the other upheld in separate portions by the expediency of the English. But Ranjit Singh never thought his own or the Sikh sway was to be confined to the Punjab, and his only wish was to lead armies as far as faith in the Khalsa and confidence in his skill would take brave and believing men. He troubled himself not at all with the theory or the practical niceties of administration, and he would rather have added a province to his rule .than have received the assurances of his English neighbours that he legislated with discrimination in commercial affairs and with a just regard for the amelioration of liis ignorant and fanatical subjects of various persuaHe took from the land as much as it could sions. readily yield, and he took from merchants as much as they could profitably give: he put down open marauding; the Sikh peasantry enjoyed a light assessment; no local officer dared to oppress a member of the Khalsa; and if elsewhere the farmers of revenue were resisted in their tyrannical proceedings, they were more likely to be changed than to be supported by battalions. He did not ordinarily punish men who took redress into their own hands, for which, indeed his subordi ites were prepared, and which they guarded against as they could. The whole wealth and the whole energies of the people were devoted to war, and to the preparation of military means and equipment. The system is that common to all feudal governments, and it gives much th^t
RANJIT SINGH'S GOVERNMENT
lol
agreeable to the constitution of any political society, mi. its limits shall be fixed, or that the pervading means and spirit of a people shall rest, until its expansive force is authority destroyed and becomes obnoxious to change and decay, as leader of ^^'^^• Ranjit Singh grasped the more obvious characteristics ^^^ of the impulse given by N^nak and Gobind; he dexterously turned them to the purposes of his own material ambition, and he appeared to be an absolute monarch in the midst of willing and obedient subjects. But he knew that he merely directed into a particular channel a power which he could neither destroy nor control, and that, to prevent the Sikhs turning upon himself, or contending with one another, he must regularly engage them in conquest and remote warfare. The first political system of the emancipated Sikhs had crumbled to pieces, partly through its own defects, partly owing to its contact with a well-ordered and civilized government, and partly in consequence of the ascendancy of one superior mind. The 'Misals' had vanished, or were only represented by Ahluwalia and Patiala (or Phulkia), the one depending on the personal friendship oi Ranjit Singh for its chief, and the other upheld in separate portions by the expediency of the English. But Ranjit Singh never thought his own or the Sikh sway was to be confined to the Punjab, and his only wish was to lead armies as far as faith in the Khalsa and confidence in his skill would take brave and believing men. He troubled himself not at all with the theory or the practical niceties of administration, and he would rather have added a province to his rule .than have received the assurances of his English neighbours that he legislated with discrimination in commercial affairs and with a just regard for the amelioration of liis ignorant and fanatical subjects of various persuaHe took from the land as much as it could sions. readily yield, and he took from merchants as much as they could profitably give: he put down open marauding; the Sikh peasantry enjoyed a light assessment; no local officer dared to oppress a member of the Khalsa; and if elsewhere the farmers of revenue were resisted in their tyrannical proceedings, they were more likely to be changed than to be supported by battalions. He did not ordinarily punish men who took redress into their own hands, for which, indeed his subordi ites were prepared, and which they guarded against as they could. The whole wealth and the whole energies of the people were devoted to war, and to the preparation of military means and equipment. The system is that common to all feudal governments, and it gives much th^t
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