१८५७ का स्वातन्त्र्य समर (वीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर - अंग्रेजों द्वारा छपने से पूर्व प्रतिबन्धित महाग्रन्थ)

SECRET ORGANISATION
To obtain all information about this secret society,
either now or in the immediate future, is as difficult as it
is to obtain the information about any other secret society.
But upon the facts that occasionally come to light, one
cannot but admire the skill of the organisers.⁴
A little before 1856, Nana began to send missionaries
all over India to initiate people into this political ideal.
In addition to sending missionaries to awaken the people,
Nana also sent tried and able men to the different princes
from Delhi to Mysore, to fill their minds with the glorious
ideal of the United States of India and to induce them to
join in the Revolution. These letters, which were sent
into every Durbar secretly, clearly pointed out how the
English were playing the game of reducing India to in-
significance by annexing Swadeshi kingdoms under the
pretext of “ no heir,” how those states which were spared
yet would soon be reduced to the same fate as the others
and how, under the yoke of slavery, country and religion
were both being trampled under foot ; and they concluded
by exhorting the princes to work for the Revolution which
was to make them free. Direct evidence is available that
messengers and letters from Nana were sent to the states
of Kolhapur and Patwardhan, to the Kings in Oudh, the
princes in Bundelkhand, and others. The English arrested
one of such messengers at the Durbar of Mysore. The
evidence given by this man is so important that we give
it word for word below :—“ Two or three months before
Oudh was annexed, Shrimant Nana Sahib had begun send-
ing letters. First, no one would reply, for no one hoped for
any success. After Oudh was annexed, however, Nana
began a regular battery of letters and, then, the opinions
of Nana began to appeal to the Sirkars of Lucknow. Raja
4. Trevelyan says in reference to this : “ No society of rich and
civilised Christians who ever undertook to preach the gospel of peace
and goodwill can have employed a more perfect system of orga-
nisation than was adopted by these rascals whose mission it was
to preach the gospel of sedition and slaughter.”—Cawnpore, p. 39.
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