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

THE CONFLAGRATION
Revolution in the very beginning. Every Revolution is
started by cutting down the laws of existing authority by
the sword. But when once the habit is formed of mowing
down by the sword the unjust laws of unconstitutional
authority, then in the heat of the moment, the vicious
habit develops of setting at nought all laws at will. The
sword used for destroying wicked and cruel laws tends
to destroy all law. The heroes, who start out for over-
throwing foreign rule, soon get into the habit of over-
throwing all rule. In the excitement of breaking the bonds
of foreign rule, they begin to dislike all bonds, even those
of just and normal rule. And in this way, Revolution
ends in Anarchy, virtue in vice, and what ought to be a
great benefit ends in loss. The destruction of individuals,
of society, and of kingdoms is caused as much by anarchy
as by foreign rule, as much by the absence of any bond
as by the presence of cruel bonds. If any Revolution
forgets this sociological truth, it generally kills itself in
the end. Just as a man who begins to take wine as a
cure for some distemper does not get rid of the habit of
drinking wine even after he is cured ; similarly, the habit
of breaking bonds, in order to remove bad rule, persists
even after its work is done and makes men disorderly and
anarchical. That Revolution which destroys injustice and
oppression is holy. But when a Revolution roots out one
kind of injustice and oppression but plants, at the same
moment, the seeds of another kind, it becomes at once
unholy, and the seeds of destruction accompanying that
sin soon put an end to its life.
Therefore, those who want to take the wine of Revolution
to cure the disease of foreign slavery must be on their
guard not to get addicted to the vicious habit. The mind
must be trained from the beginning to honour one’s own
rule as much as to hate foreign rule. In wiping out foreign
misrule, care must be taken to discourage, by all possible
means, internal disorder. In smiting down foreign rule
and foreign authority, one’s own rule and authority should
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