1 TO THE DEATH OP RUNJEET SINGH. 13
2 control of any body, nor to any constituted autho-
3 rity whatsoever * The possession of each sirdar
4 was called a Missul, but be exercised no absolute
5 supremacy over it, for his followers exacted a
6 share in the land proportioned to the service each
7 had rendered, merely looking upon the sirdar as
8 the chief in war and arbiter in peace. Twice a year
9 the chiefs ^assembled at Umritzur, and held a sort
10 of council for the common good, where important
11 expeditions, and other matters requiring combined
12 efforts, were discussed. Amongst these chiefs was
13 Churut Singh, an ancestor of Runjeet's ; but a
14 horde of associated warriors, acknowledging no
15 systematic general authority or government was
16 never destined, even in comparatively civilized
17 countries, to enjoy permanent tranquillity or se-
18 curity. When, to employ the language of Prin-
19 sep, the link of a common enemy and common
20 danger was removed, and the chiefs were con"'
21 verted from needy adventurers to lords of do-
22 main, discords and mutual plunderings com-
23 menced. As temper, ambition, or avarice excited
24 to contention, cause of quarrel was never want-
25 ing in the confusion of the coparcenary system.
26 The disputes and divisions which subsisted in
27 each lordship favoured the designs of the as-
28 piring from without, whose aid being solicited by
29 * Prinsep.