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

THE ERUPTION
plans had also been made in other places ; but, before the
time of putting them into execution, the secret leaked out
and the English were forewarned. The Pilhur regiment,
however, observed great secrecy till the last moment. When
the siege-train was being taken to Delhi, they could easily
have broken it up, but not to spoil the general plan, this
regiment kept outward peace till the right moment. At
last, on the 9th of June, the signal agreed upon was made
at Jullunder—the bungalow of the colonel of the Queen’s
Regiment was set on fire. At this signal, the Jullunder
Sepoys rose in revolt at midnight. As a matter of fact,
the English had European soldiers and artillery there, but
the rising of the Sepoys was so unanimous and sudden
that, at their terrible war-cries, the English lost their nerve.
English men, women, and children began to run away
to places of safety. But the Jullunder Sepoys had no time
to waste in massacres. Since the English guns were aim-
ed at the flag of freedom in Delhi, every heart was drawn
towards that place. When Adjutant Bagshawe began to
interfere unnecessarily, one horseman galloped towards
him and shot him dead. The English military officers of
the place had, to the end, confidence in the Sepoys and
informed the higher authorities that they need not be
disarmed ; and they really did trust the Sepoys. For this,
the Sepoys not only refrained from massacring them
wholesale but spared the life of those also that had not
yet left the place. Thus, the Jullunder army kept its plan
well and the officers who trusted them were spared their
life. In this, the Sepoys showed great magnanimity.⁸ And
8. The English have circulated a myth and have called it the
Black Hole of Calcutta and the whole world is execrating the memory
of Siraj-ud-daulah for this wild invention of an English forger’s
brain. Here is a blood-curdling story of a real black hole which
the perpetrator himself has confessed to. “ In the Panjab, near
Ajnala, in a small island, many a Sepoy who had simply fled away
from a regiment, which was working under the reasonable fear of
being disarmed and shot by the Government for suspicion, was hiding
himself. Cooper with a loyal body of troops took them prisoner.
‘ The entire number, amounting to two hundred and eighty-two,
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