भारतीय इतिहास के ६ स्वर्णिम पृष्ठ (वीर सावरकर - विदेशी आक्रान्ताओं पर विजय गाथा)

return to their homes never to harass the English people and would begin
living a peaceful life, would be shown, without exception, royal clemency,
irrespective of anything they might have done in respect of the ‘mutiny’.
1114. After the British had, thus, surrendered, though not explicitly yet
doubtless implicitly, to the revolutionists in repsect of the above-mentioned
two points, there was included in the said proclamation of the new Empress
of India, a further important promise that neither the British Government,
nor any local white-skinned officer, nor even any British missionary would
be suffered to interfere with the religion of their ‘natives’, that the Empress
of India wished to treat all her subjects, the Hindus, the Muslims, the
Christians and others, impartially and that she, as the Empress of India,
would protect every religion from the tryrannical persecution at the hands
of every other religion. This express promise was included in this famous
proclamation in order to eradicate one of the most potent causes of the
outbreak of the War of Independence, namely, the Indian apprehension that
the company’s government was out to destroy the native religions and to
convert all the Indians to Christianity with the use of force. And this was,
too, a tacit submission of the British to the revolutionists!
1115. Yet another important submission was implicitly made to the
revolutionists in this proclamation. It was the discontinuation of the
obnoxious practice of denying the Indian rulers the right of adoption and
liquidating and annexing their territories to the British possessions in India.
For, it was expressly promised in the said proclamation that the traditional
right of Indian rulers to adopt heirs to their estates would be honoured.
Their adopted heirs were promised the same political and administrative
rights as they enjoyed under the old tradition.
1115A. Thus, the British had tried by means of this Queen’s proclamation
to remove almost all the causes, which in their opinion, had led to the
horrible revolt of the Indian revolutionists. Nevertheless, the most important
promise—of course, in the British opinion—and the one that they thought
would give complete satisfaction to the Indian people—was that—
1116. All the Indian subjects of Queen Victoria would be treated as
respectfully as the British—and that they would be selected for appointment
to all the official posts in the British empire, irrespective of caste, creed or
religon!!
1116A. BUT THIS PROCLAMATION HAD NO EFFECT
WHATSOEVER UPON THE REVOLUTIONISTS!