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

THE INTERLUDE AND THE PUNJAB
The inevitable idleness of the Revolutionary party
was of the highest advantage to the English. They never
had occasion to hear such terrible news since first they
set foot on the soil of Hindusthan. The swords of the very
Sepoys who so long maintained and extended their power
were now turned against them. English Sovereignty fled
from this spectacle at Meerut to Delhi, only to find
the old Emperor, who strangled her with the left hand
and wrested her crown away with the right! This Eng-
lish Sovereignty full of gory wounds, spat upon even by
the women at Meerut, with hair dripped in English blood,
with necklaces of bones, with all her ornaments including
the crown snatched away by the people—this English
Sovereignty now tried to enter Calcutta with a terrible
moan! The English dominion in India has not the
slightest natural strength! In this month of May, there
was only one white regiment, right from Barrackpore to
Agra, a distance of 750 miles. Under such circumstances,
if the whole of this region had risen according to the plan
of the Revolutionary party, not one but even ten Eng-
lands put together could not have been able to hold
Hindusthan! This white regiment was stationed at Dana-
pur. There was a considerable number of white troops
in the Punjab on the frontier, but it was necessary to
maintain them there. Under these circumstances, the first
effort of Lord Canning was to bring as many white troops
together as possible. Just at the time, fortunately for the
English, the war with Persia had come to an end and
orders were sent to that army to return at once to India.
At the end of the war with Persia, the English had picked
up a quarrel with China and had ordered troops thither;
but when this storm arose in India, Canning determined
to stop the army on its way to China. Besides
these two, the English regiments which were to
have gone to Rangoon were detained at Calcutta,
and orders were issued to the Governor of Madras
to hold in readiness the 43rd infantry and the
Madras fusiliers.
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