First edition. "Bell describes the circumstances under which annexation was made and also the activities and role of Maharaja Dalip Singh as the last ruler... based on original sources. Punjab papers of 1849 have been extensively used... Appendix A contains extracts from the Blue Books and Appendix B from Letters and articles from the Times" (Chopra). Bell served in India with the Madras Europeans, was Assistant Commissioner at Nagpur in 1855. Losing his position in 1860 after a dispute with the Chief Commissioner, but later made Deputy Commissioner of Police at Madras, retiring in 1863. He is best known as a prominent free-thinker and secularist, an early advocate of women's suffrage, he was a member of the London National Society for Women's Suffrage in 1866, and as an outspoken critic of the East India Company.