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118 coherence to the Sikh nation. He was a great man of action and a good ruler for his time, his Government—a mild despotism—being then the only one suited to control the diverse and turbulent elements in the Punjab. Under his strong hand such order and security reigned there as had never been known before. He left to his successor (unfortunately a weak man) a united kingdom, a territory larger than the present Italy, and a well-appointed trained army provided with the best weapons of the day, which the British, a few years later, found the most difficult to overcome that they had ever met in India. When he died the Sikh power was at its zenith, and then it exploded, disappearing in fierce but fading flames.