THE RISE OF STURDIER OPPONENTS

209 or military associations like the Marathas, the Jats of Bhartpur, the Sikhs of the Panjab, or the Rohillas united by the tie, real or assumed, of common race, religion, or country, and drawn together for defence or attack into compact organizations upon a kind of national or territorial basis. Such groups were liable to be weakened by internal THE OLD PALACE AT BHARTPUR. feuds and dissensions. But as they had some genuine root in the soil and a true bond of popular union, they have always possessed a higher vitality and much stronger resisting capacity than the forces of even such an able military despot as Hyder Ali of Mysore, with whom we began our new series of wars in the south. A skilful commander of mercenary troops may often be hard to beat in a single battle; but it will be found,