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

THE ERUPTION
when the first shock of the Rising was sensibly felt. After
the Creation, there comes often the Deluge. Whoever
wants a Revolution must be prepared to meet these diffi-
culties in carrying it out !
However, when the week of looting and burning was over,
all the dangers of anarchy melted away and the Revolu-
tion assumed some organised form in Allahabad. In that
province, as in all places where a Revolution due to
popular agitation takes place, the difficulty after the rising
is that of finding capable leaders. This difficulty was soon
got over in the city of Allahabad ; for, an ardent lover
of liberty, called Leakat Ali, soon became the leader of
the Revolution. The only information we have about this
extraordinary man is that he was a religious preacher
among the weavers. Before the Rising, he had worked
as a teacher in a school. He was adored by all people for
the holy purity of his life. When the province of Allaha-
bad became free, the Zemindars of the Chauvis Parganas
brought this Moulvie in a few days to Allahabad and
appointed him chief officer there. And he was proclaimed
in great ceremony as the representative of the Emperor of
Delhi. This Moulvie established his head-quarters in a
fortified garden called Khusru Bagh and began the work
of organising the Revolutionaries in the province. He
soon put all the affairs of state in good order. He did
not stop with merely saying that he was the Subahdar of
the Emperor but he continued to send, to the last, reports
of the events in Allahabad to the Emperor of Delhi.
The first thing that Moulvie Leakat Ali had to do was to
capture the fort of Allahabad. He had begun the attempts
to organise and prepare the army that collected under him
and direct an attack on the fort, when the news came that
General Neill was marching from Benares towards Allaha-
bad. Even now, if the four hundred Sikhs in the fort had
come to their senses, the whole fort, together with the
guns, arms, and ammunition, would have fallen to the
200