1 IV PREFACE.
2 RuNJEET Singh ; besides that the tract of coun-
3 try, now forming the Sikh kingdom, is in the
4 high road by which every conqueror from the
5 west has penetrated into Hindoostan ; and spe-
6 culation is always more or less afloat, as to the
7 possibility of a similar conquest being again
8 attempted, by the armies of Europe associated,
9 or by those of the Northern Autocrat alone,
10 whose views of aggrandizement seem insatiable,
11 and have long been directed towards Persia and
12 the East.
13 The time thus appears to be favorable for an
14 attempt to offer to the Public some information
15 as to the present condition of the Punjab and
16 its Ruler : and every one must have felt, that
17 there is a blank in the intelligence possessed on
18 this subject, not consistent Avith the general
19 state of knowledge, or the eagerness with which
20 information, and in particular political and sta-
21 tistical information, is in these days poured forth
22 upon the Public, by every one who thinks he
23 has any thing to communicate, that will be
24 listened to or received. The early history of
25 the Sikhs is pretty generally known : few are
26 ignorant, that they are a religious sect, esta-
27 blished in the time of Babur by Nanuk Shah,
28 the propagator of doctrines of universal toleration,
29 and llic zealous i>rojector of an union of faith