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

THE ERUPTION
magistrate. Nana Sahib gave strict orders that Holas
Singh should protect the citizens from disorderly Sepoys
or bandit villagers. The work of supplying provisions
to the army was entrusted to a citizen, called Mullah. A
court was appointed to settle civil and criminal disputes.
Jwala Prasad, Azimullah Khan, and others were made
judges and Baba Sahib was made the President. From
the few documents of this court that are extant, it is
abundantly clear that those guilty of oppression or dis-
order were severely punished and that great care was
bestowed on the maintenance of order. A man convicted
of a very heinous theft had his right hand cut off. A
Mahomedan butcher was given the same punishment for
killing a cow. Vagabonds without any profession and peo-
ple convicted of small thefts were publicly disgraced in the
streets on the back of a donkey.⁵ Like the Committee of
Public Safety established during the French Revolution,
this court gradually encroached upon all the other depart-
ments. To supply ammunition in case of shortage, to
supply clothes to the army, to try the arrested English
scouts, to punish rogues who wanted to escape—all these
were done by this court. It also gave rewards to those
who discovered English refugees.
The attack of the Revolutionaries on the English fort took
place on the 12th. Rather than take it by a general
assault, the general plan of the Revolutionaries was to
reduce it by harassing the English on all sides by artillery.
They also directed assaults now and then. After both
sides had lost some men the Revolutionaries would retire.
The vigour and courage of the artillery was not equalled
by the cavalry and the infantry. This fault will also be
prominently noticed in the sieges of Delhi and Lucknow;
but, in the siege of Cawnpore also, more importance was
attached to the artillery than to hand-to-hand fight. Not
that the Sepoys were, at all, afraid of death. The valour
5. Thomson's Cawnpore.
228

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
and bravery the Sepoys displayed in the assault, on
the 18th of June, on the fort were remarkable. On this
day, disregarding the cannon-fire of the enemy, they ran
straight, like arrows, at the enemy's camp, mounted the
walls, took an English gun, and turned its mouth, and it
seemed for a moment that the flag of freedom would never
be set back. Instead of helping such brave Sepoys, some
had, on the other hand, sworn as it were to create disorder
without reason and bring confusion in all the ranks. This
weakness compelled the whole army to return. Like the
brave Sepoys of Oudh, some brave hearts at Cawnpore
did their duty, as heroes always do, without waiting to see
what the others did. One day when the assaulting party
was retiring, one Sepoy lay down there, pretending to be
dead. When Captain Jenkins, renowned for his bravery
and a bold fighter, came up there galloping confidently,
the Sepoy jumped suddenly at his prey and shot him
dead in the neck in an instant !
The 23rd of June came. One hundred years before, on
this day, the English had laid the foundations of their
power on the battle-field of Plassey. On that 23rd of
June, the English got their first decisive victory in Hindu-
sthan. The sting of the insult of that unfortunate day
was burning in the heart of Hindusthan so much that,
even after a hundred years, that evil day and its evil
memory was fresh in the heart of all Indians. The terrible
wound of slavery inflicted on that day had not been healed
even after a hundred years. No balm had yet been
found that could heal it ! What a righteous hatred was
rankling in the heart even of the peaceful and forgiving
India ? In the last breath of every dying generation and
in the first breath of every new one being born, she has
been mixing in the spirit of revenge for Plassey! This went
on for a hundred years, and the morning of the 23rd of
June, 1857, had risen. Astrologers had foretold that at
last on this day the Mother would be avenged. Nana
Sahib ! Though the fulfilment of the prophecy is in the
229

THE ERUPTION
hands of God, you are to do your duty towards achieving
the end !
And not to lose the chance of that auspicious day, the
23rd of June saw the whole of Nana Sahib’s camp in a
terrible commotion. All the divisions, if not every man
of the army, had got ready to direct an assault as had
never been directed before. The artillery, the cavalry,
and the infantry—all, inspired by the memory of that
historical day, came down into the battle-field. The
bravest of them assembled together and took oaths—the
Hindus with Ganges water and the Mahomedans on the
Koran—that, on that day, they would either acquire free-
dom or die fighting ! The cavalry rushed forward and
came up to the walls without heeding the enemy’s artillery.
The infantry, under cover of big bags of cotton which
they pushed along, showered bullets on the fort, from the
other sides. People from the neighbouring villages had also
come to join the Revolutionaries. From within the fort,
the English also kept up an incessant fire. Though they
could not check the forward movement of the Revolu-
tionists, they prevented them from breaking into the fort
that day.
Nevertheless this last attack at Cawnpore did not go in
vain. After that day’s fight the English lost all hope.
They were full of despair and saw clearly that it was
thenceforth impossible to hold the fort against Nana
Sahib. Though not on the 23rd, yet on the 25th of June,
they hoisted on their wall the flag of truce ! On seeing
this flag, Nana Sahib ordered the fighting to stop⁶ and
sent to General Wheeler a letter by the hand of a captive
English woman. The note ran : “To the subjects of
Queen Victoria. Those who have had no connection with
Dalhousie’s policy and those who are ready to lay down
6. Tatia Tope, in his statement, says :—“ The English general
raised the flag of peace and the fighting ceased.”
230

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
arms and surrender will be safely conveyed to Allahabad."
This note was written by Azimullah Khan at the order
of Nana Sahib.
When General Wheeler received the note, he gave authori-
ty to Captains Moore and Whiting to consider it and the
two officers resolved upon a surrender to Nana Sahib.
The next morning, on the 26th Jwala Prasad and Azimul-
lah Khan, on behalf of Nana Sahib, and Moore, Whiting,
and Roche, on behalf of the English, met near the walls.
First, the conversation began in English, but soon Jwala
and Azim forced them to carry on the conversation in
Hindusthani—the language of the nation. The terms
settled were that the English should hand over all the
artillery, arms and ammunition, and the treasure to Nana
Sahib, and Nana Sahib should give provisions to and con-
vey the party to Allahabad.⁷ The agreement was drawn up
on paper and Azimullah Khan and others returned to get
Nana Sahib's signature. In the afternoon, there was
some difference as to whether the English should start
the same night or the next morning. However, a compro-
mise was arrived at, and it was agreed that Nana Sahib
should take charge of everything that night and the English
should leave early the next morning. Mr. Todd (formerly
English reader at Nana's palace) came to Nana Sahib
with a copy of the treaty agreed upon by both parties.
Nana showed great hospitality towards him and inquired
as to his health, etc. The same evening, the English laid
down their arms ; the guns were handed over to Nana
Sahib ; and Brigadier Jwala Prasad, with two companions,
came and took his quarters within the fort. The same
night Holas Singh, the magistrate at Cawnpore, and Tatia
Topé ordered boatmen to keep forty boats ready. The
English officers who came on elephants to see them com-
plained that the boats were rude and uncomfortable. So,
a hundred labourers were employed immediately ; bamboo
7. Red Pamphlet.
231

THE ERUPTION
coverings and canopies were erected, good seats were made,
and corn and other provisions were also loaded on
the boats.
The English now prepared to go out of Cawnpore. But,
we must also see who were now coming in there. Unless
we take an account of the incomings as well as the out-
goings, we shall not be able to understand later events.
When the news spread everywhere that Nana had raised
the flag of freedom at Cawnpore, a constant flood of
heroes was pouring in thither. Young national volunteers
from every place were repairing towards Cawnpore. A
town, which could not send men, sent money. But, alas !
it was not only these volunteers that were now crowding
into Cawnpore. Day and night helpless people, who had
been unsuccessful in their efforts and who were tired of
English slavery, also came to the camp in large numbers.
Thousands of Sepoys from Allahabad and Kashi had
come to Cawnpore in the preceding week with the news
of the cruel vengeance which the English had taken on
their comrades and their wives and children. Hundreds
of young Indian sons, whose fathers had been hanged in
shapes of the figures—" 8 " and " 9 "', also had come there.
Husbands whose wives and infant sons in the cradle had
been burnt by Neill also came. Fathers whose daughters
had their hair and clothes set fire to by English soldiers
amid shouts of applause, also crowded the place. Men
whose properties were burnt to ashes, men whose religion
was trampled under foot, men whose nation had been
enslaved, such men created a tumult round the banner of
freedom with shouts of " Revenge ! Revenge ! ! " And,
when the day of victory had arrived, Nana Sahib's pro-
mise to convey the English to Allahabad dispelled all the
hopes of the Sepoys and the people, and they began to
grumble aloud. The English officers who came to look
after the preparation of boats distinctly heard whispers
of " Massacre " (Katal) among the Sepoy's lounging about
on the banks of the Ganges ! It is also said that a palace
232

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
Pundit had explained to the Sepoys how, in the eyes of
religion, there was no sin in beheading men who had
broken faith with a nation and had enslaved it ! ⁸
On the 27th of June, the sun rose on this disturbed atmos-
phere. The English were to be seen off from the Sati
Chowda Ghat. The cavalry and the infantry stood round
the Ghat and the artillery was also in position. Thou-
sands of the citizens of Cawnpore had also assembled at
the Ghat, since the morning, to witness the scene on the
banks of the Ganges, each with his own mental picture
of it. Azimullah Khan, Bala Sahib, and the Commander
Tatia Topé, also stood on the terrace of a temple near the
Ghat. The name of the temple too was fitting to the
occasion. Inside was the image of " Har Dev " and it
appeared as if the lordship of the whole region was vested
for the time being solely in the hands of Shiva, the Terri-
ble ! Nana Sahib had sent the best conveyances to
take the English from the fort to the Ganges bank. For
Sir Wheeler, a beautifully decorated elephant, with Nana
Sahib's own mahut, came and stood at the gate of the
fort. Sir Wheeler did not like the idea of being taken
in such a melancholy procession on an elephant ; so, he
seated his family on it and betook himself to a palanquin.
The English women had also palkees allotted to them.
The procession started. The English flag at the fort was
hauled down and the flag of freedom and religion flew
in its stead ! Instead of having heart-burnings at this
insult to English prestige, the prisoners expressed joy at
being released from the jaws of death. In the flush of
joy of a renewed life, they left the fort and proceeded
hastily—but whither ?
However, it is useless to discuss that question at this
stage. The Ganges Ghat is still a mile and a half afar.
When this procession, after going through the mile and a
8. Trevelyan's Cawnpore.
233

THE ERUPTION
half, got down on the sands, the Sepoy lines closed from
behind and guarded the way. While embarking on the
boats from the palkees and elephants, no Indian came
forth that day to help the English. Yes ; but there were
exceptions. In one or two cases, they did get help when
they were getting down but, then, the Sepoys offered
their swords, not their hands. The wounded Colonel
Ewart had been put in a doli. A Sepoy stopped his doli
and said : “ Well, Colonel, how do you like this parade ?
How are the regimental uniforms ? ” With these words,
he dragged him down from the palkee and cut him to
pieces. His wife was near by. Some said to her : “ You
are a woman and your life will be spared ! ” But,
one frightful young man rushed forward, shouting,
“ Get away ! A woman ? Yes. But she is a Feringhi !
Cut her to pieces ! ” Before he finished the sentence, the
thing was done !
The English committee itself has admitted after enquiry
that all the boats on the river contained ample provisions
on board. The English waded through the water and took
their seats in them. Everywhere there was a dead silence
and calm. The boats were almost crowded. The boat-
men were ready with their oars. At last, Tatia Topé
waved his hand backward and forward in the air as the
sign for the boats to start. Suddenly, in one corner, some
one blew a bugle to break the terrible silence. As soon as
the shrill sound of the bugle was heard, a crashing noise
started—the noise of guns, rifles, swords, kukris, and
bayonets. The boatmen jumped from the boats and came
to the bank, and the Sepoys rushed into the water
with a jump ! No other sound was heard but “ Mâro
Feringhiko ! ”
Soon all the boats caught fire, and men and women and
children all jumped hastily into the Ganges. Some began
to swim, some were drowned, some were burnt and most
succumbed to bullets sooner or later ! Lumps of flesh,
234

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
broken heads, severed hair, chopped-off arms and legs,
and a stream of blood! The whole Ganges became red!
As soon as anyone took up his head above water,
he was shot by a bullet; if he kept it under water,
he would die of asphyxia! Such was the wrath of
Har Dev! Such was the one hundredth anniversary
of Plassey!
It was ten o'clock in the morning. It is said that, at this
time, Nana Sahib was quietly pacing a hall in the palace.
What wonder that he was uneasy in that palace, while
an account of the century's wrongs was being settled!
Such moments are epochs in history. They are the final
strokes of a period, the summary of an age. Heaven
knows his thoughts, at that time, when he was pacing the
hall! But he was not allowed time to think much longer;
for, a cavalryman came galloping fast and informed him
that the Sepoys had commenced an indiscriminate
massacre of the English on Sati Chowda Ghat. Hearing
this, Nana Sahib remarked that there was no necessity
of molesting the women and the children and made the
same man gallop back fast with the stringent order, “ Kill
the Englishmen! But no harm is to be done to the women
and children! ”⁹ We must notice, while passing, that the
second part of Nana Sahib's order is conspicuous by its
absence in Neill's orders! When Nana Sahib's order
reached Sati Chowda, the Sepoys were in the height of
their dread work. Some Englishmen were burning in the
heap of tottering boats, while some were attempting to
swim across the river. The Sepoys also jumped into the
water and followed them like wild dogs, shouting and
foaming with rage. With their swords in the teeth and
revolvers in the hand, the Sepoys began the terrible hunt
in the water. General Wheeler was killed in the first rush.
9. Forrest’s State Papers. Almost all English historians admit
that Nana sent this order as soon as he heard the report. Also
Kaye and Malleson's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 258.
235

THE ERUPTION
Henderson also fell. But it is easier to give a list of those
that survived than of those that died ! As soon as Nana
Sahib’s order arrived, the massacre was at once stopped
and one hundred and twenty-five women and children
were taken alive out of the water. They were taken as
prisoners to Savda Kothi. The remaining Englishmen
were made to stand in a line and the order for their exe-
cution was read to them. One of them asked to be given
time to read to his comrades some sentences from a prayer-
book, and the request was granted.¹⁰ When the prayer was
finished, the Sepoys quickly cut off their heads with
swords ! Out of the forty boats, only one boat escaped ;
and out of the Englishmen in it, only three or four were
saved from the attacks of the villagers, and that too,
because a Zemindar, called Durvijay Singh, took pity
on them ! This Zemindar kept the naked and dying
Englishmen for a month and then sent them down to
Allahabad.
In short out of one thousand living Englishmen and wo-
men, on the 7th of June at Cawnpore, only four men and
one hundred and twenty-five women and children survived
on the 30th. The women and children were in the prisons
of Nana Sahib and the four half-dead men were partak-
ing of medicine and hospitality in the house of Durvijay
Singh. It is here necessary to record briefly the arrange-
ments made by Nana Sahib as regards the imprisoned
women and children. We would have had no occasion to
refer to this at all, had not English writers published a
series of “ reliable information ” and most shameless accu-
sations that the women were violated, that they were in-
sulted in the streets, that Nana Sahib himself attempted
to violate them, etc., and had not the English nation
been so blind and wicked as to believe these despicable
and diabolical falsehoods ! It is distinctly stated by the
special commission appointed by the English in this be-
10. Kaye and Malleson’s Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 263.
236

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
half that all these accusations are false.^{11} Still, this does
not end the question. Not only did Nana Sahib save
these women from massacre and thus put to shame Neill,
Reynold, and Havelock, but, in that conflagration of 1857,
Nana Sahib did not show to the treacherous enemy who
ruined individuals, the nation, and religion, even a hun-
dredth part of the severity and cruelty which, in similar
conditions and under similar provocations, England herself
has shown to India, Austria to Italy, Spain to the Moors,
or Greece to the Turks. And this is proved by the
histories of the English themselves.
In the first confusion of the massacre at Cawnpore, four
English women and some half-caste women had been
taken away by some cavalrymen. At this news, Nana
Sahib had the Sepoys immediately arrested and disgraced.
He compelled them to restore the women at once.^{12} The
prisoners were given chapatees, and meat occasionally.^{13}
They were not forced to do hard labour in any sense.
The children were given milk. Over them was kept a
chief wardress, called Begum. Since cholera and dysen-
tery broke out in the prison, they were brought out to
take fresh air, thrice every day.^{14} It would not be here
out of place to give a small anecdote to show how the
people were furious even at the name, "English." One
morning, a Brahmin peeped over the prison wall and saw
English women, who would never go out except in a
palanquin, wash their clothes. Moved at this sight, the
Brahmin remarked to his neighbour, "Why do they not
allow them a washerman?" As a check to this excessive
humanity, the neighbour slapped the Brahmin hard in the
11. Muir's Report and Wilson's Report. See also, Kaye and
Malleson's Indian Mutiny, Vol. II, page 267.
12. Trevelyan's Cawnpore, page 299.
13. Narrative, page 113.
14. Neill himself says in his report: "At first they were badly
fed but afterwards they got better food and clean clothing and
servants to wait upon."
237

THE ERUPTION
face! A few of the women in the prison used to grind
corn and each of them was given flour for one chapatee
free. This showed them what it meant to work for one's
living! What was the end of this imprisonment and what
was the reason for that end will appear at its proper time.
We will leave the women and children in prison and now
turn to more important matters.
When all the emblems of English rule had been wiped
out of Cawnpore, Nana Sahib held a great Durbar, about
five o'clock on the afternoon of the 28th. In honour of the
Durbar, there was also a military parade of the whole army
present. Six regiments of infantry, and two of cavalry,
besides bands of Revolutionaries, with their banners, who
had come from various places to join in the war, were
present at the ceremony. The artillery by whose power
Cawnpore was conquered was deservedly given the place
of honour. Bala Sahib was, from the first, very popular
in the army and got a splendid ovation when he arrived.
At first, there was a salute of 101 guns in honour of the
Emperor of Delhi which shows how, in 1857, Hindus and
Mahomedans had forgotten all their animosities. Next
when Nana Sahib arrived in the camp, he was acclaimed
with shouts and received a salute of twenty-one guns.
Some said the twenty-one guns represented the twenty-
one days of the siege. Nana Sahib thanked the army for
the great honour and said, “This victory belongs to all of
us. All have an equal glory therein.” It was then an-
nounced that Nana Sahib had ordered one lakh of Rupees
to be distributed to the army as a reward for its victory
and, when he presented himself on the parade, another
salute of twenty-one guns was fired. Then, Nana's nephew
—Rao Sahib, and brothers—Baba Sahib and Bala Sahib,
each got a salute of seventeen guns in their honour. Briga-
dier Jwala Prasad and Commander Tatia Topé were given
the honour of eleven guns each. In this manner, the even-
ing sun heard the martial song of freedom through the din
of cannon, and then the whole army returned to the camp.
238

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
After the military review, Nana Sahib, in company with
his brother Bala Sahib, proceeded to the historically
famous palace of Brahmavarta. The 1st of July was
fixed as the day of coronation. On that day, what splen-
dour there was in the palace! The old historic throne of
the Peshwas was brought with great ceremony into the
Durbar Hall, and Nana Sahib, with the royal Tilaka on
his forehead, amidst the booming of guns and the thunder-
ing applause of thousands, ascended the throne which was
independent, earned by his prowess, supported by the
populace, and blessed by religion. On that day, hundreds
from Cawnpore sent presents to Nana Sahib.^{15} The Mah-
ratta throne which the English hurled down from Raigarh
thus re-emerged out of the Ganges flowing red with Eng-
lish blood. The Hindus all over the land hailed it with
"Raja Ramachandra ki Jay!!!"
But while Nana Sahib was straining every nerve to regain
freedom in childhood, Rani Lakshmi Bai, a fellow com-
petitor with him in childhood at Brahmavarta in horse-
riding and elephant-riding, did not keep idle. When Nana
Sahib cast the die on the battlefield for independence at
Cawnpore, she did the same at Jhansi. She was as close
an associate to him in the game of Revolution as she was
in the games of childhood. On the 4th of June, on the
same day that Cawnpore was suffused with the clouds
of fiery fume of cannonade, the Rani of Jhansi too dashed
out like lightning and joined the battle of freedom.
On the 4th of June, Jhansi rose. Before this rising, a few
letters fell into the hands of the British commissioner at
Jhansi from which it appeared that Lakshman Rao, a
Brahmin in the Ranee's service, was organising a Revolu-
tion and, as a preliminary, intended to kill the British
officers in command of the army. But while the English
were discussing amongst themselves as to what precautions
15. Trevelyan's Cawnpore, page 293.
239

THE ERUPTION
were to be taken, on the same day, the Revolutionists took
possession of the fort. Finding this, the English went to
take shelter in the city fort. The Revolutionaries made
an attack upon that also, and took it. On the 7th,
Rasaldar Kala Khan and Tahsildar Mahomed Hussein of
Jhansi and other valiant soldiers led the attack and the
flag of Revolution was hoisted on the fort of Jhansi. The
English, on the other hand, hoisted the white flag and
craved for peace. Hakim Salay Mahomed, a prominent
citizen of Jhansi, promised to spare the lives of the English,
if they surrendered unconditionally. The English laid
down their arms, and the doors of the fort were opened.
But, when the English came out of the gates, the soldiers
shouted, “Mâro Feringhiko!” The Sepoys had known
how the English had massacred their women and children
and how Neill had burnt whole villages and were infuriat-
ed beyond measure. On the 8th, a procession was led
through the city and the English were made to march in
the procession as prisoners of war. The very English peo-
ple, who were wielding the highest authority at Jhansi
only a week before, were, to-day, parading as captives.
As they were approaching Johan Bagh the Sepoys asked
the general, “Rasaldar Sahib, what further orders?”
The Rasaldar ordered that the Feringhis who were guilty
of treason in having dared to dethrone the Ranee and
annex the country should not be spared and that, there-
fore, they should be drawn up in three separate rows of
men, women, and children and, as soon as the jail Daroga
decapitated the commissioner in the line of men, imme-
diately the rest of the lines of men, women and children
should be beheaded. In a second, blood began to flow in
streams. Thus, they died as victims of the merciless
annexation policy of Lord Dalhousie refusing to recognise
the adoption made by the queen.
About seventy-five men, twelve women, and twenty-three
children were decapitated by the Revolutionaries and,
there being no legal or adopted heir of the English to
240

CAWNPORE AND JHANSI
represent them, the Revolutionaries annexed the Kingdom
of Jhansi to the Ranee's crown as the guardian of her son,
Damodar Rao. They declared: "The Universe belongs
to God, the country to the Emperor, and the authority to
Ranee Lakshmi Bai!" ¹⁶
16. There is an authoritative work on the life of the Queen of
Jhansi by a well-known Marathi historian, and there the able au-
thor has established by an incontestable array of proofs that there
was not the least incitement to this massacre from the young Queen.
This work has a wide circulation and is translated in other verna-
culars in India, and so we think it unnecessary to repeat the argu-
ment once more.
241
16

CHAPTER IX
OUDH
SINCE Dalhousie annexed Oudh, the people of
that province had been sinking deeper and deeper
in misery. After Oudh lost her independence,
all the offices of honour, power, and wealth in
the Nabob's Kingdom were given to Englishmen,
and the Swadeshi men had to go to the wall.
The Nabob's army was disbanded, his nobles were driven
into poverty, his ministers and other officers lost their
positions and were pushed to the low ranks of wage-
earners ; and all of them entertained a rankling hatred of
the slavery which destroyed their country and reduced
them to such a state. The sting of slavery was felt not
242

OUDH
alone in the capital and among the palace officials. The
traditional rights of properties and Inams (fiefs) of the
big Zemindars and Rajas were also confiscated by the
English. So, all these Rajas and Zemindars saw how, bet-
ween even a bad Swaraj (national rule) and subjection
to a highly developed foreign rule, the former was to be
preferred and was infinitely more agreeable and honour-
able. The increase in the land-tax produced discontent
among the peasants. Most of the Hindusthanee Sepoys
in the English army were from Oudh, and the misery and
slavery of the place of their birth soon made them intense-
ly disaffected. Every one put his hand to the sword when
he remembered how the English ruined Nabob Wajid Ali
Shah with their cruel treachery and deceit. The big
Zemindars of Oudh, were descendants of Rajput heroes.
They were intensely excited when they heard of the per-
fidious cruelty of the English towards their King. After
the annexation of Oudh, the English asked them to come
and accept services under the new regime. Hundreds of
the freedom-loving and valiant men replied, at that time:
“We have eaten the food of Swaraj! We will not touch
the foreigner’s food!”
Sir Henry Lawrence was made the chief officer of the new
Oudh province. He was the elder brother of Sir John
Lawrence by whose alertness and statesmanship the seeds
of the Revolution in the Panjab were smothered before
taking root. Just as the chief commissioner of the Panjab
had saved that province, so also his brother in Oudh had
begun his preparations to save this. If anyone deserves
the credit of having materially helped to perpetuate Bri-
tish power in India in this Revolution, it is the Lawrence
family. Sir Henry Lawrence, as soon as he stepped into
Oudh, really grasped the situation there and had expressed
the fear of a Revolution, long before any other Englishman
thought of it. Lucknow being the capital of Oudh pro-
vince, Sir Henry had his headquarters there. He started
the policy of pacifying disaffected Zemindars by sweet
243

THE ERUPTION
speeches. He took great pains in organising a Durbar at
Lucknow and in giving various honours, titles, and re-
wards, in order to make the people forget their late Swaraj.
He was not unwise enough to rest content merely with
applying pacificatory means, but also began to think out
various plans for opposing a possible popular rising.
For, though Sir Henry Lawrence was a better officer than
his predecessors, the people in Oudh were heartily dis-
gusted with English rule as such, whether good or bad.
Their ambition could be satisfied with nothing less than
the restoration of Swaraj and the reinstallation of Wajid
Ali Shah on the throne. They had no other desire but to
break the English chains and make Hindusthan free again.
Their religion was yesterday the religion of the free. But
yesterday, it was the religion of the state and the king.
Today, it had fallen to a secondary and a servile place.
These were their chief complaints, and the remedy was
not good rule by the English but the end of all English
rule. Powerful Hindu chiefs, like Man Singh, and leaders
of Mahomedans, like Moulvie Ahmad Shah, resolved to
sacrifice their all in this war for freedom and the Hindu
and Islamic religions. Thousands of Moulvies and Pundits
began to wander all over Oudh, preaching sacred war,
openly and secretly. The army took the oath ; the police
took the oath ; the Zemindars took the oath ; almost the
whole populace joined in a vast conspiracy to fight the
English, and the fire of popular agitation spread every-
where. It has been already told how sparks of this agita-
tion would come forth, now and then, unintentionally.
Moulvie Ahmad Shah himself was convicted of sedition
and was given the death sentence which was later com-
muted. The 7th regiment was disarmed. Sir Henry Law-
rence held a great Durbar on the 12th of May, in order to
keep control over the Sepoys as far as possible. He then
delivered there an eloquent oration in Hindusthanee. He
fully dilated upon the importance of loyalty, the insults
offered by Ranjit Singh to the Mahomedan religion,
Aurangzeb's insults to Hinduism, and the protection ac-
Published by Asian Educational Services, New Delhi, 2014.
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OUDH
corded by the English to both Hindus and Mahomedans
against mutual injury. He then personally presented
swords, shawls, turbans, and other presents to those Sepoys
who had shown their loyalty ; while, on the other side,
the 7th regiment was being disarmed and disbanded. What
an irony time had in store for him ! In a very short time,
these loyalists who got rewards had to be sentenced to
be hanged on proof of their complicity with the
Revolutionaries.
The loyal Durbar was held on the 12th. On the 13th, the
news came that Meerut had risen and, on the 14th, the
people heard the joyful news that Delhi had fallen into
the hands of the Revolutionaries and that a Proclamation
had been issued of the freedom of Hindusthan.
Sir Henry Lawrence now selected two places near Lucknow
city, Machi Bhawan and the Residency, and began the
work of fortifying these as places of refuge. The English
women and children were taken there and all Englishmen,
clerks, civil officials, and merchants were taught military
drill, discipline, and the use of the rifle. At Meerut too,
after the rising, all the civil Englishmen there had been
given such training and made ready for the field in ten
days. Sir Henry Lawrence was made the chief military
officer of the province. Oudh being close to Nepal, Sir
Henry Lawrence sent a mission to Nepal requesting help
from there. He asked Jung Bahadur to come down into
Oudh with an army. While these precautions were being
taken, Sir Henry would get “ reliable ” information every
day that there would be a rising that day. Daily, on re-
ceipt of the news, he would take special precautions ; but
the day would pass and no rising would take place. He
was often thus deceived. On the 30th of May also, an
officer informed Sir Henry that there was to be a rising
that evening at nine o'clock.
The sun set on the 30th. While Henry Lawrence was
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dining with his subordinates, the nine o'clock gun went
off. Seeing that the man who had brought information
this time was one who had proved a false prophet before,
Henry Lawrence bent forward and said sarcastically,
"Your friends are not punctual!"
Not punctual! Hardly had he finished the sentence, when
he heard the crashing noise of the rifles of the 71st regi-
ment. As previously settled amongst themselves, at the
nine o'clock gun, a detachment of this regiment attacked
the bungalows of the English. The mess-house of the 71st
regiment was set on fire and the Englishmen were
fired at. Lieutenant Grant who was attempting to escape
was hidden under a mattress by some one; but someone
else gave the information to the Sepoys. He was dragged
out and killed. While Lieutenant Hardinge was guarding
some streets with his cavalry, he also received a sword-cut.
The cantonment was on fire. Brigadier Handscomb was
also killed. The English soldiers and a few Sepoys who
stuck to the English flag were under arms all night, trying
to check the spread of the rising as much as possible. On
the morning of the 31st of May, Henry Lawrence marched
on the Revolutionaries with the English soldiers under
him and a few Sepoys who were still loyal to the English.
But, on the way, the 7th cavalry regiment that was with
him also rose. He left them to join the Revolutionaries
and returned. Though the English had the whole of the
32nd regiment stationed at Lucknow, besides the artillery,
before sunset, the 71st infantry, the 48th infantry, and the
7th cavalry regiment, together with the irregular troops,
hoisted up the flag of freedom.
At a distance of fifty-one miles to the north-west of Luck-
now is the town of Sitapur. There were stationed here
the 41st infantry and the 9th and 10th irregular infantries.
At Sitapur also stayed the commissioner of the province
and other big officials. On the 27th of May, some English
houses had been set fire to. But the English had not yet
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the experience to know that those fires were the premoni-
tory symptoms of the rising. They, therefore, did not
give any special attention to it. Nay, more, even the
Sepoys made great efforts to put down the flames! This
fire served two purposes. One was that the members of
the secret society got notice that the time had come. The
other was to test the credulity and confidence of the Eng-
lish. On the 2nd of June, an extraordinary incident
occurred. The Sepoys complained that the flour bags
given to them contained powder of bones and refused to
take them. They also insisted that they should be instant-
ly thrown into the Ganges. The English quietly threw
the bags into the river! In the afternoon of the same
day, the Sepoys suddenly rushed into the gardens of the
English and everyone helped himself to whatever fruit he
liked and as much as he liked. The English officers pro-
tested vehemently, but the Sepoys did not stop in their
repast to listen to the remonstrance! After the terrible
feast, they began an equally terrible exercise in order to
digest the food! On the 3rd of June, a batch of Sepoys
went up to the treasury and captured it, and the rest went
and attacked the house of the Chief Commissioner. On
the way, they met Colonel Birch and Lieutenant Graves
and killed them. The 9th irregulars, also, killed their
officers. All the Sepoys would shout, "The Feringhi rule
is at an end!" and fall upon any Englishman they met.
The commissioner and his wife were running towards the
river. He, his wife, and a boy were killed while crossing
the river. Thornhill and his wife, also, fell a prey to
bullets. The Sepoys in their rage killed about twenty-four
English. Many others among the English, however, ran
to the Zemindars of Ramkote, Mitavali, etc., enjoyed their
hospitality for eight or ten months, and then were taken
safely to Lucknow. All the Sepoys of Sitapur then went
to Farrukabad. The fort there, in which the Englishmen
had taken refuge, was taken after severe fighting and the
Englishmen were massacred. Nabob Tafuzar Hossein
Khan was re-established on the Gâdi which had been
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