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

THE CONFLAGRATION
of Lucknow be raised, and have enlisted myself as a simple
volunteer in the ranks."
What a moral education this first noble order of the com-
mander must have been to the English army ! How the
individual must have been merged in the nation ! With
the first order, Outram gave the chief command to Have-
lock and showed unparalleled patriotism, generosity,
and unselfishness.
Inspired by the moral lesson of this piece of heroic nobility,
and reinforced by fresh English troops from Calcutta
under officers like Eyre, Outram, and Cooper, the Cawn-
pore army, with redoubled vigour, again started to cross
the Ganges on the 20th of September to march to the
relief of Lucknow. The impatient Havelock of July 25th
who started to “ relieve Lucknow in five or six days,” the
Havelock of August 12th unfortunate in having to retreat
to Cawnpore and who found it difficult to hold out at
all in Oudh, and the resolute and hopeful Havelock of
20th of September ! How different are these three pictures
of Havelock ? He had, now, two thousand and five
hundred English troops, and the whole army, including
the Sikhs, numbered about three thousand two hundred
and fifty. Select cavalry, excellent artillery, officers like
Neill, Eyre, and Outram were with him. Now, he did not
pay any heed to the Oudh Revolutionaries. Every Zemin-
dar who came to the field to save his country from the pol-
luting touch of the Feringhi was killed. Every proud village
that stood up to fight, unable to bear a sight of Feringhi
horsemen galloping in the mother-country, was burnt to
ashes ! Every road, every field, every river on the way
was reddened with Swadeshi blood ! Thus, the powerful
English army began to push its way into Oudh with
violence. Fighting skirmish after skirmish and routing
the ill-trained Revolutionaries, Havelock arrived at Alam
Bagh on the 23rd of September. A Revolutionary force
was encamped there. The two forces met. The whole day
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