Hussain, who, for ability, integrity, and accomplishments, have no superiors in any native Court; while in the Sikh States of Kapúrthala, Nábha, and Jind, officials of the same creed hold places of honour and responsibility. As to Bráhmans, it is doubtful whether the rules of Guru Govind Singh ever passed beyond the authority of a pious opinion; for the weight of the Hindu theocracy bore heavily on the necks of all who had once been subjected to it, and the most audacious among the Sikhs could not openly outrage the popular sentiment in favour of the sanctity of the Bráhman. But whatever the rules of Sikhism might enjoin, it was virtually impossible to carry on a complex administration without making use of the only classes, Muhammadans and Bráhmans, who had any hereditary capacity for government.
Democracies may assert the equality of intellect and extol the carrière ouverte aux talents, but the practice of Republics in Europe and America gives the doctrine the lie. Governing is an art which may no doubt be brilliantly practised without special training by some men of exceptional genius; but, as an ordinary accomplishment, it must be painfully and laboriously acquired, while hereditary aptitude and the class and family traditions of rule are very important factors in its success. Now, to the Bráhmans and the Muhammadans alone did the hereditary talent of government belong in the days of Ranjít Singh. The former had created the existing Hindu system of polity, and while to the fighting class
