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

THE CONFLAGRATION
About five hundred Europeans and four hundred Indians
were alive, wounded as well as whole. And in the army
of Havelock, which set out for their relief, seven hundred
and twenty-two men were killed before the Residency was
reached ! It was at the cost of so many brave men's lives
that the victory of Lucknow was achieved.
But you cruel Despair ! You are still as invincible as
ever ! Havelock has harassed the Revolutionaries so much,
but you still do not leave him ! For, when he entered the
Residency he had thought that, after all the victories, all
the bloodshed, all the fighting, he had, at last, relieved the
English power from the grip of the Revolutionaries. But,
now, his delusion is being dispelled and he asks himself,
after reaching the Lucknow Residency, the same question
as he did when he was on the banks of the Ganges, “What
I brought to the Residency—is it complete relief or mere
help ? ” Instead of the siege being raised by Havelock's
coming to the Residency, the Revolutionaries now besieged
the old army as well as the new ! And therefore, everyone
began to ask, “ What has Havelock brought us, relief or
mere help ? ”
It was only help ! This army, which the two great English
generals, Havelock and Outram, brought, after fighting
many battles, to relieve the English at Lucknow from the
grip of the Pandays, instead of raising the siege, went in
and was besieged itself along with the other. The English
hoped that the army of the Pandays would disperse as
soon as Havelock’s army entered the Residency. All India
soon saw that these hopes were completely dashed to the
ground. Instead of giving up Lucknow or opening nego-
tiations for peace with the English, the Panday host,
infuriated by the progress of the War of Independence,
took up its former position round the Residency as soon
as Havelock entered it. While entering the Residency,
one part of the English army had been left behind at
Alam Bagh. This part was not allowed a chance to join
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