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

A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW
you. For my person belongs not to me but to my king."
The fort will surrender, but not Veni Madhav !⁶
In November, 1858, the famous proclamation of the
Queen of England was published throughout India, and
according to the prophecy, the Company's rule did vanish
after a hundred years ! But, in its place came the rule
of the Queen ! Everyone who fought openly against the
English in the war was to be given a full pardon as soon
as he laid down his arms ; a promise was given that his
property would not be confiscated⁷ ; not even an inquiry
6. How the people fought pro rege and pro patria, for the king
and the Motherland, will be seen from the following. Charles Ball
says :—" After the proclamation, still the struggle in Oudh was
wonderful, and all these bands of rebels were strengthened and
encouraged to an inconceivable degree by the sympathy of their
countrymen. They could march without commissariat, for the peo-
ple would always feed them. They could leave their baggage with-
out guard, for the people would not attack it. They were always
certain of their position and that of the British, for the people
brought them hourly information. And no design could be possibly
kept from them while secret sympathisers stood round every mess-
table and waited in almost every tent in the British camp. No
surprise could be effected but by a miracle, while rumour, com-
municated from mouth to mouth, outstripped even our cavalry."
Vol. II, page 572.
7. How this promise and similar promises were kept by the
English, is well-known to the people of India. The Government
actually refused to return lakhs of Rupees lent to them on bonds
and securities on the ground that the security-holders were rebels.
Here is a sample of the general attitude of the English people
at the time. In the biography of John Delane, the famous editor
of the London Times, recently printed, we get some glimpses of
the matter. At about the time of the mutiny, the Times had sent
a special correspondent to India in the person of Sir W. H. Russell.
It is recorded that " at the end of January, 1859, Sir W. H. Russell
was still with Lord Clyde and, in one of his last letters from Luck-
now, he tells a delightful story which he heard from the Comman-
der-in-Chief. Alluding to his landlord at Allahabad (an Anglo-
Indian general merchant), Lord Clyde said, ‘you doubtless heard
what he did ?’ ‘No.’ ‘Well, he was much in debt to native
merchants when the mutiny broke out. He was appointed special
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