Page:Ranjit Singh (Griffin).djvu/77

Rh larger population. Fortunately for the Sikhs they had an ally in the ferocious bigotry of the Emperor which created enemies to his throne in every Feudatory Hindu State, and eventually brought the magnificent fabric of Empire to the ground. Despotisms that have no other foundation than the personal qualities of individuals can never be secure. Sagacity, unselfishness and benevolence are not the fruits which grow on the thorns and brambles of tyranny. Ignorant, debauched, cruel, and fanatical despots are far more likely to turn up when a cynical Fortune deals the cards. Had it been possible to produce a succession of princes like Akbar the magnificent, who, take him all in all, was perhaps the man most brilliant and complete, in his intellectual ascendency, of all historical autocrats, the Mughal Empire might have been flourishing to-day, and English traders would still be humbly soliciting imperial favour at Delhi, before the peacock throne. But the bigoted intolerance of the Emperor Aurangzeb, who, apart from his religion, was of blameless life and possessed of many accomplishments, did more to ruin the Empire than the extravagances of his predecessors and successors.

As to the Sikhs, his persecutions strengthened their obstinate attachment to their faith, and the threat of death and torture never won Islam a single convert. The blood of the martyrs was, as ever, the seed of the Church. Impotent to crush it entirely, Aurangzeb only succeeded in infusing its spirit into fresh votaries,