1 REFLECTIONS. 187
2 to the condition of subjects. Runjeet Singh has, in
3 the formation especially of his military force, evinced the
4 same enquiring activity, the same attention to minutiae,
5 and perseverance in watching the execution of his
6 plans, which characterized the first Peter of Russia;
7 and, compared with all that we see and hear of other
8 chiefs who have raised themselves to high dominion, he
9 ranks amongst those, whose means have been the least
10 exceptionable, his career being stained by no bloody
11 executions, and by much fewer crimes, than are chargeable
12 against most founders of dynasties. The want of a gene-
13 ralizing mind, to refer things to fixed principles, and to
14 lead to the formation or adoption of systems, and a
15 deficiency of the intelligence resulting from education,
16 or from habitual converse with men of high cultivation,
17 have been the main defects of his character, and are the
18 causes of Runjeet Singh's Government being based
19 on no solid forms, and institutions, which can be reckoned
20 upon to carry on the machine, when the present regu-
21 lator of all is removed from the scene. But where were
22 such to be found amongst an association of Sikh banditti,
23 formed from the outcasts of society, and from the dregs
24 in particular of the agricultural class, men all in most
25 desperate circumstances and driven by want to adopt
26 the life of robbers? All that was educated, and refined,
27 had disappeared from the Punjab, before Runjeet
28 Singh was born. The natural effect however of the
29 nnion of authority in his person, has been, to create a
30 court, where, in the course of time, scienceaud refinement
31 will be reproduced, or collected from the countries
32 around, as the habits of peace and luxury, come to super-
33 cede the bustle, and perpetual activity of war and mili-
34 tary expeditions.
35 z 2