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

AYODHYA
unwillingly !) upon the notice of the Company that, if
the Nabob had an empty treasury, he had at least a tract
of territory and, so, with the sole object of looking after
the welfare and well-being of the Nabob, the Company
deprived him, at once and for ever, of a territory yielding
a net revenue of about two crores of Rupees (£2,000,000)
and forced him to accept the services of this extensive
army of English soldiers. This territory was the land of
Rohilkhand and the Doab.
After robbing all this land from the territory of Oudh,
the English signed an agreement that, as the Nabob had
surrendered all and every right over this tract of land, the
rest of the territory belonging to the Nabob should remain
hereditarily in the family of the Nabob. Another article
in the treaty provided that the Nabob should not oppress
his subjects. After this treaty which was concluded in
1801, the Nabob was made to advance to the Company,
whenever they wanted financial aid, crores of Rupees. The
whole kingdom of Oudh was in the hands of the Com-
pany's army officers, the treasury became empty by forced
loans and contributions, and it was impossible for the
Nabob to administer his territory independently or to
introduce internal reforms. But the philanthropic Com-
pany kept on urging upon him, pointing to the articles in
the treaty of 1801, to alter his administration so as to
make his subjects happy and contented. How was it pos-
sible for the Nabob to do so? The Company thwarted
all his efforts to reform the finances. Those old laws in the
kingdom which ensured the happiness of the people were
abolished by the Company and new ones were introduced.
The subjects suffered so much in consequence of these new
laws that even the Company had to acknowledge its mis-
take and did do so ten years after. Thus, while on the
one hand the Company unlawfully interfered in the inter-
nal administration of the kingdom, on the other hand it
insisted that the subjects of the Nabob should have
no complaints. They first made him empty his treasury
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
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