equality and fraternity for its foundations far more literally than has been the case with the modern republics of Europe and America.
An account of the organisation and system of fighting of the Sikhs has been given in a preceding chapter. They were essentially horsemen, not footmen. The infantry soldier was considered altogether inferior to the cavalry, and was, in time of war, left behind to garrison forts, to look after the women, or to follow, as best he could, the fighting force, until he, in his turn, could afford to change his status and buy or steal a horse for his own use.
Mahárájá Ranjít Singh, very early in his career, recognised, with his usual sagacity, that the Sikh system was unsuited to the genius of the people, and that until it was modified he could not hope to win solid victories over regular troops like the English, whose drill and tactics he studied with infinite patience, or even over the Afgháns, who in the time of Ahmad Sháh were fairly disciplined, and formidable opponents even in the open country, while in the hills they were almost invincible. When he had thoroughly mastered the secret of the superiority of the British organization, against which all the military races of India had tried their strength in vain, he resolved to create an army on similar lines, while he determined, not less resolutely, to keep peace with the only power which he had learned to respect. With these ideas, the Mahárájá changed the entire organisation of the Khálsa army. The cavalry
