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

THE VOLCANO
on his own account, to urge every other Sepoy to take the
oath of fighting for their common country. In these two
months, thousands of letters were sent from Barrackpore,
in the name of the Nabob of Oudh, to the regiments
stationed in the Panjab, in Maharashtra, and at Meerut,
Umballa and other places. When immense bags full of
letters were carried in the post, the English had their
suspicions roused, and they—especially Sir John Lawrence
—began to open these letters. All this time an extraordi-
nary self-confidence had been created in the Sepoys. The
Englishmen asked the Sepoys wounded in the battle of
Kali Nadi and ordered to be blown from cannon mouths
how they dared to rise against them ; and the Sepoys
replied, “ If Sepoys are united, the whites would be like
a drop in the ocean.” A letter of one of these opened by
the English says, “ Brothers, we ourselves are thrusting
the foreigners’ sword into our body. If we rise, success is
assured. From Calcutta to Peshawar, there will be an
uncontested maidan.” The Sepoys used to call together
meetings secretly in the night. All resolutions were passed
in the general meetings, and all decisions passed in the
inner circles were obeyed strictly and by all. When they
used to come to the secret societies, they used to conceal
their identity by covering their faces completely, leaving
only their eyes uncovered, and then speak about the
thousand and one oppressions committed in the country
by the English.¹⁷ If any one of the members was suspected
of telling the name of the conspirators to the enemy, he
was immediately put to death. In order that common
deliberation should take place between the various regi-
17. “ These incendiary fires were soon followed by nocturnal
meetings. Men met each other with muffled faces and discussed in
excited language the intolerable outrages the British Government had
committed upon them.” Kaye’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, p. 365. “ On
the parade ground, about 1300 men were assembled. They had their
heads covered so that only a small part of the face was exposed.
They said they were determined to die for their religion.”—Narrative
of the Indian Mutiny, p. 5.
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