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

EMPEROR BAHADUR SHAH II OF DELHI
From an old miniature painting
In 1857 the raising of Bahadur Shah to the throne of India was no
mere restoration but the declaration that the long standing war between
the Hindu and the Mohamadan had ended, that tyranny had ceased
and that the people of the soil were once more free to choose their own
Monarch. Bahadur Shah was raised by the free voice of the people
both Hindus and Mohamadans, civil and military, to be their emperor
and the head of the War of Independence.
— Author, p. 285

This page is blank and contains no text to transcribe.

BENARES AND ALLAHABAD
Revolutionaries without a shot being fired ! General
Neill was so afraid of this that he marched with his Eng-
lish troops in haste to Allahabad. Neill arrived there on
the 11th of June. He had no hope that the Sikhs would
protect the fort and its English occupants till his arrival.
He was, therefore, overjoyed when he saw the English flag
still flying on the walls of the fort. He, immediately, kept
the English soldiers to garrison the fort and sent the loyal
Sikhs out to do the fighting. It is clearly seen from this
how little faith Neill had in the Sikh Sepoys. Though
Neill had no faith in the Sikhs, the Sikhs had complete
faith in him ; for, they refused to join the Revolutionaries
even after this insult, and consented to burn the neigh-
bouring villages. On the 17th of June, the English army
began to push its way into the town. Describing the inci-
dents, the Moulvie, in his report to the Emperor, says,
"Of the traitorous sinners who have joined the enemy,
some have spread the rumour that the English are going
to blow up the whole town. The people have left their
homes and have announced that they are going away in
order to save their lives ! Therefore, the whole town is be-
ing deserted in spite of assurances of protection." As this
unfortunate report of the Moulvie had set out on its
way to Delhi, the English attack on Khusru Bagh began.
The Revolutionaries defended the place that day ; but the
Moulvie soon saw that it was madness to attempt to hold
Allahabad from a dilapidated garden while the fort was
in the hands of the enemy. So, on the night of the 17th,
he left for Cawnpore with all his followers. The next
day, on the 18th, the English re-entered Allahabad together
with the 'loyal Sikhs.'
Though Allahabad followed the example of Benares and
fell into the English hands, the Revolutionaries did not
lose courage at all. Seeing the enemy thus safely protect-
ed in the chief forts, the people of the province were all
the more enraged and every village put up entrenchments
and prepared to make a stand. The days were gone when
201

THE ERUPTION
such determined people could be seduced by bribery. The
war was a war of principle, and though Neill offered re-
wards of thousands of Rupees for the heads of even minor
leaders, the penurious peasants themselves were unwilling
to help him. An English officer of the time has expressed
his surprise at this noble stand for the sake of principle.
He writes of one village : “ The magistrate offered a re-
ward of one thousand rupees for the head or the person
of the leader of rebels who is well-known to the natives ;
yet, such is their hatred towards us that no one would
give him up ! ¹⁵ Let alone betraying the leaders, it was
considered, at that time, a great sin even to sell for money
any commodity to the English. If anyone did commit
that offence, he was immediately given a harsh punish-
ment by the community. “ Anyone who had worked for
the Europeans, these murderers killed. So, if the popula-
tion is to a man against us, we should stand but a bad
chance. A poor baker was found with his hand cut off
and his nose slit, because he had sent in bread to us.”
This is the report of the 23rd of June. Simply because the
baker gave bread to the English, the villagers cut off his
hands and nose. When this national and armed boycott
was proclaimed, the misery of the Feringhis knew no
bounds. It is true they had taken the fort of Allahabad.
But, they found it impossible to move even a step one way
or the other. They could get neither oxen, nor carts, nor
even medicine ! No dolies for sick soldiers and no men
to lift them ! There were sick men lying about in various
places. Their shrill cries were so fearful that some Eng-
lish women died by hearing them. The days were hot.
And the trick of the Revolutionaries in rising in June, so
that the Englishmen might die of heat also, now came to
be understood. All Englishmen were busy bathing their
heads in cold water ! Besides, the provisions always fell
short. Nobody could be found who would sell even a
grain of corn to the English. “ Up to to-day, we have
15. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. 1.
202

BENARES AND ALLAHABAD
had little to eat ; indeed, I could not have fed a dog with
my yesterday's breakfast ! " So writes an officer from
Allahabad ! This heat and this starvation brought on
cholera in the English camp. To add to the troubles,
English soldiers regularly started getting drunk ! All
discipline was gone. These drunkards began to disobey
Neill's orders to such an extent that he wrote to Canning
that he had decided to hang a few of them ! The English
army, beset with these numerous difficulties, was chained
to Allahabad city. Though urgent messages requesting
help were coming frequently from the English of Cawnpore,
a dashing warrior like General Neill, had to see the first
of July dawn in Allahabad itself !
It is important to note that General Neill and his fusiliers
had been brought from Madras. If, at this time, there
had been even a slight tremor of a Revolution towards
Madras, the English would have been unable to bear the
strain even for a day. For, though the resolute Indians
of Allahabad had all but succeeded in the cleverly organis-
ed plan of shutting up English soldiers in the forts, the
English had no real reason to be disheartened. For
Madras, Bombay, Rajputana, the Panjab, Nepal, and
other parts were still lying like dead weights hampering
the national movement. When some of these parts did
begin to move, they fell on their own countrymen, like
demons. Were not thousands of Sikh Sepoys ready to
help the English in Benares itself ? However, whatever
the others might do, the Brahmin priests and Mullahs of
Prayag, Talukdars and peasants, teachers and students,
shopkeepers and customers—in spite of various difficulties,
in spite of the want of a great military leader who could
lead them to battle, in spite of defeat, discouragement,
and anarchy—showed a confirmed and inveterate hatred
of slavery. Of the great sacrifices, including the sacrifice
of life itself, made by these noble patriots for the
lofty ideals of Swaraj and freedom, History will
ever be proud !
203

THE ERUPTION
For, all these patriots were actually paying a very heavy
price for rising against English slavery. It is difficult to
find a parallel, even in the history of savages, to the cruel
brutality which Neill showed in the provinces of Benares
and Allahabad ! We do not write this as a figure of
speech ; any one will be convinced that what we have said
is nothing but the bare truth, if he reads the accounts
given by the English themselves. We had given some ac-
count of the inhuman conduct of the British in Benares.
Here, we extract a letter of a brave and generous Briton
to describe his achievements in Allahabad. “One trip I
enjoyed amazingly; we got on board a steamer with a gun,
while the Sikhs and the fusiliers marched up to the city.
We steamed up throwing shots right and left till we got
up to the bad places, when we went on the shore and
peppered away with our guns, my old double-barrel bring-
ing down several niggers. So thirsty for vengeance I was.
We fired the places right and left and the flames shot up
to the heavens as they spread, fanned by the breeze, show-
ing that the day of vengeance had fallen on the treacher-
ous villains. Every day, we had expeditions to burn and
destroy disaffected villages and we have taken our revenge.
I have been appointed the chief of a commission for the
trial of all natives charged with offences against the
government and persons. Day by day, we have strung
up eight and ten men. We have the power of life in our
hands and, I assure you, we spare not. A very summary
trial is all that takes place. The condemned culprit is
placed under a tree, with a rope round his neck, on the
top of a carriage, and when it is pulled off he swings.”¹⁶
Neill burnt old men ; Neill burnt middle-aged men ; Neill
burnt young men; Neill burnt children; Neill burnt in-
fants ; Neill burnt babies in cradles; and Neill has burnt
babies suckling at the breasts of their mothers ! Kaye
admits that six thousand Indians were done to death at
the place above mentioned ! Hundreds of women, young
16. Charles Ball's Indian Mutiny, Vol. I, page 257.
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BENARES AND ALLAHABAD
girls, mothers, and daughters have been burnt alive by
Neill, without even counting their number. We make the
statement in the presence of God and in the presence of
all humanity ! If anyone has the slightest proof against
it, let him come forth boldly and stand for a moment at
least before the world and God !
And what was the crime all these had committed ? The
crime was that they were ready to bear all these for the
sake of their country's freedom !
Still the massacre of Cawnpore has to come ! Neill's
barbarities were not a revenge of Cawnpore, but the
Cawnpore bloodshed was the result of and revenge for
Neill's inhuman brutalities !
Neill has killed as many people in Allahabad alone as
all Englishmen, women and children who had been killed
throughout India in the Revolution, put together ! And
tens of such Neills were conducting such massacres in
hundreds of places ! For every Englishman, a whole vil-
lage has been burnt ! God will not forget this and we
will, also, never forget this !
And what do English historians say about this ? They
generally omit this, and that too, ostentatiously ! If they
do give some of the details, it is to prove how bold and
brave Neill was. What greater mercifulness than such
timely cruelty ? Some say that this cruelty on his part
shows the great love of humanity in Neill's heart ! Kaye,
no doubt, suspects that the Cawnpore massacres were a
result of this barbarous revenge; but, he says, it is natural
that the leonine qualities of the British people should
come out on account of the insolence of the 'natives.'
Kaye does not write a single word against Neill for this
cruelty. But, instead of allowing man to discuss this
question, he leaves it to God ! When talking of
Nana Sahib, his pen puts even Obscenity to shame !
205

THE ERUPTION
Charles Ball praises Neill inordinately. But what does
Neill himself say ?
He says, " God grant I may have acted with justice ! I
know I have acted with severity but, under all the cir-
cumstances, I trust for forgiveness. I have done all for
the good of my country, to re-establish its prestige and
power, and to put down this most barbarous, inhuman
insurrection." The definition of Patriotism in England is
unique indeed !
Another historian, Holmes, says : " Old men had done us
no harm ; helpless women, with suckling infants at
their breasts, felt the weight of our vengeance no
less than the vilest malefactors. But, to the honour
of Neill, let it be remembered that, to him, the
infliction of punishment was not a delight but an
awful duty."¹⁷
We fervently hope that impartial history, by examining
the above extracts, and the true God—not Neill's God—
will look more sympathetically and forgivingly at the few
massacres by the Revolutionaries than at these wholesale
slaughterings by the English. Are massacres in the cause
of freedom justified ? This question "should be left to
God !" " Let God forgive me, for what I am doing, I am
doing to win national independence for my country!"
—this sentence would fit the mouth of Nana far
better than that of Neill ! It was the Revolutionaries
who were " fighting for their country," not Neill !
And, if anyone performed a " duty " in massacres,
it was the Revolutionaries alone, fired with the
desire of fighting for Swaraj and Swadharma and burning
for vengeance for all the oppressions that the Motherland
suffered for a hundred years !
17. Holmes's Sepoy War, pages 229-230.
206

BENARES AND ALLAHABAD
But, of what use is all this philosophy now ? Neill has
sowed the seeds of cruelty and horror in Allahabad. Their
abundant crops are already rising in the fields of Cawn-
pore. Let us, then, go towards Cawnpore to reap them in
their full harvest ! !
207

CHAPTER VIII
CAWNPORE & JHANSI
LET us now leave aside, for a moment, the bloody
stream of the Revolutionary Ganges flowing
about violently on the fields of Northern India
with the holy desire of saving our forefathers
from the bottomless pit of slavery, and turn to
the events happening at its source at Haridwar.
About the time of the Meerut rising, there were assembled
a larger number of Revolutionary leaders in the palace of
Nana Sahib than could be found, at the time, in the palace
of Lucknow, in the Subah at Bareilly, or even at the
Dewan-i-Khas palace at Delhi. The Revolution of 1857 was
conceived in the palace at Brahmavarta. It was there
208

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
that the embryo also took a definite shape. And, if the
birth also had taken place at Brahmavarta, the Revolu-
tion would surely not have been so short-lived. But,
before complete development, the thunder at Meerut
brought the Revolutionary child into being, unfortunately
before its time ; it was not, however, left to its fate ; but
strenuous preparations were made in the palace at Brah-
mavarta to sustain and nourish it even under such adverse
circumstances.
At the place of honour sat the proud and noble form of
Nana Sahib, the very incarnation of the Revolutionary
Spirit. His brothers, Baba Sahib and Bala Sahib, and
his nephew Rao Sahib, were there, ready to sacrifice their
lives, wealth, and comfort for the fulfilment of their
leader's noble objects. Beside these sat the man who,
from the low station of a menial servant, had risen in his
master's favour by means of his industry and ability, the
man who had studied the politics and warfare of Europe,
determined to utilise that knowledge in the holy war of
liberating his country from slavery. This was none other
than Azimullah Khan. There also sat the lightning Queen
of Jhansi, aiding now the experience of the Revolutionary
leaders with her magnificent intuition and inspiring them
with her own unbounded love of country and honour. But
in this historical meeting, who is the warrior over there,
sharpening his sword in the direction of the armoury ?
Readers, that hero in the armoury is the celebrated Mah-
ratta Tatia Topé He is the last valiant Mahratta warrior
of the School of Shivaji. There are many people who are
brave, but the valour of this last Mahratta hero was the
sword incarnate drawn by the Mother herself for
her freedom.
Tatia Topé was born in about 1814. His father's name
was Pandurang Bhat. Pandurang Bhat had eight sons
and of them, the second was called Raghunath. It is this
209
14

THE ERUPTION
Raghunath who shines as the brilliant star of liberty in
the galaxy of the heroes of Hindusthan. Pandurang Rao
Topé was a Deshasth Brahmin and was the head of the
charity department, under the late Bajirao Peshwa at
Brahmavarta. In the verandah, Nana Sahib, the Jhansi
Ranee, and Tatia Topé played the games of their child-
hood ! Nana Sahib and Tatia Topé were intimate friends
from childhood. In childhood, these two were trained in
the same school, fitted to perform the heroic deeds which
they did in the great event of their later life. They had
read the Ramayana and the Mahabharata together ; they
had read together the accounts of the war-like deeds of
the Mahrattas, and their young hearts had throbbed to-
gether at the noble inspiration which the stories of Hindu
heroism awoke.
Towards the end of April, Nana Sahib and Azimullah
Khan had travelled through all the chief towns in
Northern India to give the necessary unity to the work
of the secret organisation. They were now waiting for
the appointed time. Suddenly on the 15th of May, the
news of the rising at Meerut and the subsequent freedom
of Delhi came to Cawnpore. At this news of the prema-
ture rising, there was not the least apparent agitation in
the palace of Brahmavarta. In a Revolutionary organisa-
tion are bound up together thousands of separate parts ;
it is unavoidable that some should move too quickly and
others too slowly, some at the appointed signal and others
at the sudden impulse of the moment. The palace at Brah-
mavarta at once understood the situation and decided to
turn the Meerut rising to advantage. But, to take such
an advantage, which was the better course? To follow
Delhi at once or wait till the first week of June according
to the original plan? Of these two alternatives, the latter
seemed preferable and, accordingly, the machinery at
Brahmavarta continued to work secretly.
Cawnpore was, for a long time, an important military
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CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
station of the English. In Cawnpore, there were the 1st,
53rd and 56th Sepoy infantry, and a regiment of Sepoy
cavalry—altogether three thousand Indian soldiers. The
cavalry was wholly in the hands of the English and,
besides, they had about a hundred English soldiers. The
chief officer of the whole army was Sir Hugh Wheeler.
Sir Hugh Wheeler was an old and very popular comman-
der among the Sepoys. He had done good service in the
Sikh and in the Afghan campaigns. The Government knew
full well that the Sepoys were very much attached to him
and nobody entertained any serious suspicion that secret
societies were working among the Sepoy lines at
Cawnpore.
About the 15th of May, a peculiar agitation was to be
seen in the whole of Cawnpore city. At the news of the
doings of the Meerut Sepoys, their Cawnpore comrades
had lost their usual stolidity and looked perturbed. But,
the English authorities heard the news only on the 18th.
As the telegraph communication to Delhi was cut, Sir
Hugh Wheeler sent scouts to obtain correct information
as to the extent of the disaffection. These scouts met on
their way a Sepoy coming from Delhi, but he flatly refused
to give any information to the Feringhis ! It is a great
mystery to English officers how, in 1857, the Sepoys
quickly got from distant points news of which the English
authorities, with their telegraph system, were ignorant.¹
The Sepoys had no necessity of learning of the Meerut
rising after it took place ; for, even a day before the events,
human telegraphs had conveyed to them all detailed infor-
mation ! It is only after the English, at last, got the news
of the Meerut rising that they began to think seriously

1. " Indeed one of the most remarkable features of the mutiny
   has been the certainty and the rapidity with which the natives were
   made aware of all important movements in distant places. The
   means of communication is chiefly by runners who forwarded mes-
   sages from station to station with extraordinary celerity."—Narrative,
   page 33.
   211

THE ERUPTION
about the secret agitation among the Cawnpore Sepoys.
But Sir Hugh Wheeler was still confident that the agita-
tion was due to the extraordinary nature of the news that
arrived from Meerut and would gradually subside. But
there in the city of Cawnpore and in the Sepoy lines,
everyone saw clearly that the days of English rule were
over. Hindus and Mahomedans held big meetings ; the
Sepoys held secret conferences ; school-masters and stu-
dents discussed the rising ; and everyone in the shops of
the bazaars openly thought out plans. The fire of popular
indignation, so far kept secret, now burst forth openly.
People openly discussed in the streets about driving out
the English and the Sepoys refused to obey all orders
except those given by their Swadeshi superiors.² When
an English lady went to the bazaar to make purchases,
in the usual proud and haughty manner, a passer-by came
up to her and said with a frown, “ Enough of this haughti-
ness now ! You should understand that you will soon be
driven out of the bazaars of Hindusthan ! ” This was
the rude awakening first experienced by the English.
Seeing that it would be folly to keep quiet under these
conditions, Sir Wheeler began to make preparations for
the defence.
His first thought was to select a place of refuge in case
of danger. He selected one near the Sepoy lines, to the
south of the Ganges. He fortified it by entrenchments,
erected places for mounting guns, and even ordered a
supply of provisions to be stored there. But, it is said
that the Indian contractor, without Sir Wheeler’s know-
ledge, put a far smaller quantity of provisions than ordered
for. Sir Wheeler and the English officers believed that,
even if the Sepoys rose, this place would save them from
any material damage. For they would follow the example
of their comrades in other places and march towards Delhi
and would leave the English quietly to go down the
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
2. Nanak Chand's Diary.
212

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI

Ganges and join the army at Allahabad! Sir Wheeler
did not rest with the preparation of this fortified place as
a protection for the English in case of a rising but he
also sent urgent letters to Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow
to send reinforcements! But such was the strength of
the Revolutionary propaganda at Lucknow that Lawrence
was crying for reinforcements himself! However, he
immediately sent towards Cawnpore eighty-four English
soldiers, the English artillery under Lieutenant Ashe, and
some cavalry. There was nothing special in these pre-
parations which Sir Wheeler made for the defence of the
English. But the third remedy which he sought for re-
moving the danger to the English power was one which
now appears very extraordinary and yet gives a true idea
of the skill in the Revolutionary organisation of the time.
This was the request made by Sir Wheeler to the Raja
of Brahmavarta to come to save Cawnpore! The news
of Meerut had produced an extraordinary agitation
among the ranks of the Sepoys and the common people
in the bazaars, but the palace of Brahmavarta appeared
as quiet, peaceful, and unruffled as before. It was im-
possible to have discovered even a ruffle on its surface that
would betray the tremendous internal agitation. The
movement among the Cawnpore troops at least put Sir
Wheeler on his guard. But, he never for a moment enter-
tained any adequate suspicion that the Raja of Brahma-
varta would go against him. The man whose crown the
English had trampled under foot only a short time before,
the Nâga snake whom they had only just before enraged
by wilfully treading on his hood, from that man the
English now asked for protection in their hour of need!
The English were not altogether mistaken in this proce-
dure. Nana Sahib was "a gentle Hindu," and how
many cowardly Hindus are there not in India who are
harmless and cringing even when trodden under foot by
the English? In the pious belief that Nana Sahib was
also one of them, Sir Wheeler invited his help. What
better chance could there be for the Prince of Brahma-

213

THE ERUPTION
varta ! He entered Cawnpore on the 22nd with two guns,
three hundred private Sepoys, infantry and cavalry !
There was a large number of civil and military officers
of the English at Cawnpore. Nana encamped in the very
midst of these English people. Now it was certain that,
if there was a revolt at Cawnpore, the treasury would be
attacked. How best to guard it ? Of course by entrust-
ing it to Nana Sahib ! Soon two hundred of Nana's
Sepoys began to keep guard over it. Collector Hillersden
profusely thanked Nana Sahib and Tatia Topé and it
was even proposed that the English women and children
should, if necessary, go for safety to the Nana's palace
at Brahmavarta !
Here was Mahratta policy ! That Nana should be invited
with his troops to Cawnpore to ‘protect’ the English and
to fight against his countrymen rising for freedom, that
he should take his head-quarters in the English camp,
that a treasure of lakhs of Rupees should be entrusted to
him for better keeping and, above all this, that the English
should thank him for his services ! Here is Mahratta
policy ! Nana paid the English in their own coin. And
all this, only a week before the great upheaval ! From
this it is evident how in 1857, the English were long left
groping in the dark and then pushed down the precipice !
The knowledge that Independence was the goal and War
the means was clearly given to the general populace at
that time ; but, as to who were the leaders, what was the
day of rising, what were the chief centres, all this was
kept so secret that not only the English but even the rank
and file of the Revolutionary society knew not much about
it. The heads of the Central Secret Society and their
faithful servants were the only men who had detailed in-
formation. This brings out the meaning of what we have
said before that there was a secret committee in every regi-
ment. The letter which fell into English hands at Benares
was signed only “From a great leader.” The responsible
leaders conducted themselves in a manner suited to the
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CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
work of the Secret Society. Even on the day before the
rising, the English had not any adequate inkling about
the plans of Emperor Bahadur Shah, Nana Sahib, or the
Queen of Jhansi ! And, amongst all these, the palace of
Brahmavarta kept the closest and strictest secrecy. The
historian Kaye says : "Nana had not studied in vain
the history of Shivaji, the founder of the Mahratta
Kingdom ! ”
The chief rendezvous of the secret societies of Cawnpore
was the house of Subahdar Tikka Singh. Another place
of meeting for the secret societies was the house of the
Sepoy leader Shams-ud-din Khan. At these secret meet-
ings, two faithful servants of the Brahmavarta palace
household, Jwala Prasad and Mahomed Ali, used to at-
tend on behalf of Nana Sahib. Subahdar Tikka Singh
and Jwala Prasad—both bold, freedom-loving, and pas-
sionately sincere patriots—soon got a hold on the assembly
and the whole army had unanimously sworn to obey
their orders. So, the voice of Subahdar Tikka Singh was
the voice of the whole army. It was extremely necessary
that such a leader and Nana Sahib should personally meet
and settle important points. Besides, the settled pro-
gramme had become useless on account of the Meerut
rising and the consequent confusion. It was therefore
necessary to alter that programme to suit the changed
circumstances, and for this it was decided that Tikka
Singh and Nana should meet.³ In their first meeting, a
long discussion took place. The Subahdar gave assurances
that both Hindus and Mahomedans were ready to rise
unanimously for Swadharma and Swaraj and were wait-
ing only for Nana's orders. After this, it was settled
that another meeting, more secret and of longer duration,
should be arranged to settle the minor details, and the
Subahdar returned. On the evening of the 1st of June,
Nana Sahib, accompanied by his brother Bala Sahib and
3. Forrest's State Papers and Trevelyan's Cawnpore.
215

THE ERUPTION
his minister Azimullah Khan, came down to the banks
of the sacred Ganges. There stood Subahdar Tikka Singh
and the heads of the Secret Society awaiting him. The
whole company then got into a boat. They entered the
waters of the holy Ganges ; everyone there took an oath,
with the holy water of the Ganges in his hands, that he
would participate in the bloody war for his country's
liberty. Then followed a deliberation of two hours in
which the whole of the future programme was definitely
decided upon, and the company returned. Their secrets
were known to the sacred Ganges alone and in her hands
they were safe ! But this much is well known that, on
the following day, Shams-ud-din came to the house of
his beloved Azizan and told her that within two days the
Feringhis would be destroyed and India would be free !
Shams-ud-din did not give this news of freedom to her
as empty bravado ; for, the heart of this beauty yearned
as much for India's freedom as that of her brave lover.
Azizan was a dancing girl very much loved by the Sepoys;
she was not one, however, who sold her love for money
in the ordinary market, but in the field of freedom it was
given as a reward for the love of country. We will soon
show further on how a delightful smile from her beautiful
face encouraged fighting heroes and how a slight frown
from her dark eyebrows hastily sent back to the field
cowards who had come away.
While the plans of the Revolutionaries were thus ripening,
the terror in the English camp was beyond all description!
Sir Wheeler sighed with relief when he got reinforce-
ments from Lucknow and when the treasure and the
arsenal had been put under the charge of Nana Sahib.
But the English population had lost all courage. The
24th of May was the great Id festival of the Mahomedans.
The English in every town apprehended a rising on that
day. But the leaders in 1857 were not such fools as to
rise on such an easily marked day. To keep peace osten-
tatiously on a day when a rising is expected by the enemy
216

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
as certain and to burst forth on a day when the enemy
thinks there is no chance whatever of trouble, is one of
the chief means of carrying a Revolution to success.
Therefore, even in Cawnpore, on the day of the Id festival,
there was not the slightest disorder. The English were so
much frightened that morning that Sir Wheeler telegraph-
ed to Lucknow, "There will be a rising to-day inevitably"!
But when, on the evening of the festival, the Mahomedans
paid and received visits as usual, Sir Wheeler was re-
assured. On the day of the birth of Queen Victoria, the
usual salute of guns was not fired in the apprehension that
the Sepoys would be unnecessarily disturbed by the noise!
Some English officers were heartily grieved that, on the
birth-day of Victoria, a salute dared not be fired in her
honour; but what could the poor fellows do? If we look
at the place erected by the English as a refuge in case of
a rising, as has been said before, we shall at once under-
stand how helpless the condition of the English had
become! Someone would purposely set up a rumour that
the Sepoys had risen, as in the story of the wolf and the
shepherd-boy, and caravans of the English would begin
to run through the streets with all possible speed! An
English officer writes: "Whilst I was there, buggies,
palkies, gharries and vehicles of all sorts drove up and
discharged cargoes of writers, tradesmen, ladies, women
suckling infants, ayahs and children—and officers, too!—
In short, if any insurrection took or takes place, we shall
have no one to thank but ourselves, because we have shown
to the natives how very easily we can be frightened, and
when frightened, utterly helpless!" The cowardice exhi-
bited in this conduct of the English, as this officer says,
was thoroughly understood by the populace. When the
entrenched place was being erected, had not Azimullah
said the same to a Lieutenant in a jocular vein? Azimullah
Khan, in his usual sweet voice, asked the lieutenant, "Well,
Sahib, what are you going to call this new building which
you are constructing here?" The lieutenant replied,
"Really, I have not yet thought about it." The smart
217

THE ERUPTION
Azimullah, with a wink in his eye, retorted, " Well, you
can just call it 'the castle of despair.' "
One day towards the evening, a young gallant Englishman,
under the influence of drink, shot a Sepoy. The shot
missed but the Sepoy brought a case against the culprit.
According to usual custom, the soldier culprit was declared
not guilty and released, the reason given being that the
gun went off while the accused was intoxicated! This
decision was the customary one, but alas! the times
had changed! ⁴
At this insult, the whole Lashkar began to mutter among
themselves, " Alright, our guns will also soon go off! "
This became an exciting catch-word among the Sepoys.
When they saw each other, they would say, " Well, now
our guns are to go off, aren't they?" The sarcastic greet-
ing became common in the army. However, they decided
to suppress their anger for the time and not to be hastened
into a premature rising as at Meerut.
To add fuel to the fire, the dead bodies of an Englishman
and his wife were carried down the Ganges to Cawnpore.
This testimony of the rising, in a city somewhere up the
river, began to hold a terrible conversation with the city
of Cawnpore. Oh! Ganges, how many more of the impure
loads have you to carry before you send them to their
ocean home! The English had now been so often deceived
by the cry of " The wolf! The wolf!!" that they were
frequently slumbering when the wolf was really to come.
On the 1st of June, Sir Hugh Wheeler wrote to Lord
4. Trevelyan says:—" The Sepoys, familiar as they were with
the brutality of low Europeans and the vagaries of military justice
would at a less critical season have expressed small surprise either
at the outrage or the decision. But, now, their blood was up and
their pride awake, and they were not inclined to overrate the
privileges of an Anglo-Saxon or the sagacity of the military tribu-
nal."—Cawnpore, page 93.
218