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

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW
While affairs were in this state at Kolhapur, there were
also signs of rising in Belgaum about the 10th of August.
But the Sepoy leader, Thakur Singh, and a bold Munshi,
the leader of the citizens, were arrested just at the last
moment. A new English army was soon on the scene
and Belgaum and Dharwar soon became silent and sub-
missive. The above-named Munshi was a Government
servant and incriminating letters from him were found
on the Sepoys at Poona and Kolhapur. So, on the evid-
ence of these, he was blown from the mouth of a cannon.
At Satara, Rango Bapuji was from the first, in the bad
books of the Government. Now, his son was hanged for
preaching the doctrine of the Rising at Kolhapur. At
the same time, two princes of the Satara royal family
were banished. Seeing the throne, in the devoted service
of which he had spent so many years, in such a plight,
the faithful Rango Bapuji disappeared from Satara. Re-
wards were offered but nobody helped to hand him over
to the English. And the fate of that patriot is not known
even to this day.
At this time, an able Englishman, called Lord Elphin-
stone, was appointed Governor of Bombay. He had not
only borne the strain—small though it was—in his own
presidency, but also sent troops to Rajputana. But, if
it was any one man whose cleverness prevented a rising
in the city of Bombay itself, it was Forrest, the chief
police officer. Bombay was a city full of easy-going,
happy-go-lucky, and traitorous cowards. Thus, the only
hearts susceptible to the flame of the national Revolution
there were amongst the ranks of the Sepoys stationed
there. And therefore it was that Forrest had kept a very
close watch upon them. The Dipavali holidays were fixed
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
view. And all this was equalled only by the fidelity with which
they adhered to each other."—Western India by Sir George Le
Grand Jacob, K.C.S.I., C.B.
501