Author Joseph Cunningham spent eight years of his service (from 1838 to 1846) in close contact with the Sikhs, and that too during a very important period of their history. His experiences began with the interview between Lord Auckland and Ranjit Singh in 1838 and lasted down to the close of the first Sikh War, when he became resident in Bhopal. The result of his eight years' residence was to give him a great insight into the history of the Sikhs and to inspire in him a partiality which is only too clearly visible in his handling of the events leading up to the outbreak of hostilities with the British. The voluminous footnotes show the breadth and variety of the author's study.

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