this just as the Guruship, which commenced as a democratic institution, became hereditary, thereby firmly establishing the Sikh religion. Political influence and power thus fell into the hands of a military aristocracy—an oligarchy based on republican principles. There were no wide distinctions between class and class. Powerful as was the influence of bold independent action which brought fame and rank, it was an influence which pervaded all, and in which none was too poor to share. Friendship or a distant relationship made the minor chief partake the feeling of his feudal superior, and he in his turn formed a link between the highest and his own humble dependants. Simplicity of habits was the habit of all. The owner of twenty acres was as proud and independent as he of hundreds, boasting the same descent and the same exclusive possession of arms and land. They wove into the interpretation of Govind's stern creed their own military characteristics. The articles of that creed nursed all the strength of national
