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

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Begum Zinat Mahal was the youngest and
the most favourite of the wives of Emperor
Bahadur Shah and, as such, had great influence
over him. Being disappointed in getting esta-
blished her son's claim to the throne of Delhi
she became highly resentful towards the British.
It was she, in fact, who first enthusiastically
welcomed the idea of the Revolution and urged
the Emperor to join it whole-heartedly. When
Bahadur Shah was transported to Burma she
accompanied him there and shared his fate.
BEGUM ZINAT MAHAL in her old age, as an exile at Tonghoo in Burma.

BEGUM ZINAT MAHAL
Wife of Emperor Bahadur Shah
From an old miniature painting
Zinat Mahal, the beloved, clever, and determined Begum of the
Emperor had decided that this last opportunity of regaining the
lost glory should not be allowed to go by, and, if dying was the only
recourse then they should die the death which would only befit an
Emperor and an Empress.
— Author, p. 78

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DELHI FALLS
new batteries. This produced consternation among the
Delhi Sepoys. While, outside the walls, the English were
steadily advancing in good order, inside there was a cli-
max of disorder, anarchy, and disobedience among the
Indian troops ! The Indians on the English side worked
so arduously in the work of constructing the battery, in
spite of the artillery-fire of Delhi, that Forrest writes,
“ The natives excelled in steady and unparalleled bravery.
When man after man was being killed, they would keep
up their work. If the man in front was killed by a bomb,
they would stop for a moment, shed a tear or two for
the dead, put the new body in the line of corpses, and
begin work again in that terrible place ! ” The Indians
under the English worked with such discipline, while
those in the town of Delhi shirked their work. From
this difference, what a lesson has to be learnt ! Honour-
ing the officers and obeying their word of order is the
very essence of discipline. But this principle was being
trampled down everywhere at Delhi. Most of the fault
lay on the incapable officers, and the rest on disorderly
sepoys, and, now, there was disheartening despair to
crown all ! The 14th of September came. The English
army was divided into four columns—three under Nichol-
son stood on the left and the fourth under Major Reid
stood on the right to force the Kabul gate and enter Delhi.
When the sun rose, the English guns which had been so
long shattering the walls stopped suddenly. There was a
dead silence for a moment in the English camp and im-
mediately the force under Nicholson dashed against the
wall. The first column went up to the breach which had
been effected in the Kashmir Bastion. From within, the
guns of the Revolutionaries kept up a hot fire. The
English fell in heaps one upon another in the trenches but
some reached the walls. A ladder was placed over the
wall and the English army began to scale up the ladder.
The Revolutionaries fought desperately and shot down
hundreds after hundreds of the Feringhi army. But the
337
22

THE CONFLAGRATION
English force pushed on in spite of the terrible onslaught.
At last, the English effected a big breach and carried it.
Delhi's walls yielded and the bugle of victory sounded !
In the same manner, near the breach at the Water-Bastion
also, there was a terrible hand to hand fight, and the
second column, killing and dying at every step, carried
the breach and jumped inside the city.
The third column was marching towards the Kashmir
gate. When Lieutenants Home and Salkeld came in front
of the gate to blow it up with dynamite, from the walls,
from the windows, from everywhere came a perfect
shower of grape. The draw-bridge over the trench in
front of the Kashmir gate is broken. Only one plank
remains. Enough, march forward on it, one by one !
The sergeant is killed, this Mahadoo has fallen—but,
Home, rush forth. Home ran forth and placed the dy-
namite near the gate. Others then rushed forward on the
plank to apply the fire to it. Lieutenant Salkeld has
fallen, shot by a bullet ; rush forth, you, Captain Burgess;
why, you are also shot ; never mind, the hero has set
fire to it, even as he was dying ! A terrible crash like
thunder ! The Kashmir gate was blown up by the terrific
force of the dynamite. But even this sound was not
heard, in the din of battle, by the English commander
who was waiting for the Kashmir gate to open ! Should
he advance or should he not ? But, though he had not
heard the bugle of victory, he had not the slightest doubt
about the success of the English heroes who had rushed
forth. After waiting for a time, he marched forth. With
absolute confidence in his soldiers, Campbell gave the
order for an assault. The troops came near the ditches.
They saw their victorious and dying comrades in the
ditches, rushed through the breach in the Kashmir gate,
and jumped into Delhi.
The fourth column under Major Reid had started from
338

DELHI FALLS
the English right to take the Kabul gate. When it
reached Sabzi Mandi, it met the Sepoys who had come
out of Delhi to oppose it. Major Reid fell in the first
encounter, the English advance was checked, there was
confusion in the English camp, the Revolutionaries were
elated, and it seemed that the English would be routed.
But Hope Grant brought up the cavalry and the battle
again became equal. Though the English artillery opened
a terrible fire from every house and garden of Kishenganj,
the Revolutionaries sent bullets flying and shed pools of
blood. The English cavalry also found it impossible to
advance. But it was also impossible to return for fear
that the Revolutionaries might capture the guns. The
English cavalry stuck to their posts to die. Not a man
moved from his place, except by death. Of the grand
bravery and discipline of the Indian cavalrymen, their
commander, Hope Grant, says : “ The native cavalrymen
remained firm. Their valour is unparalleled. When I
began to encourage them, they said : Do not be anxious!
We will stand this fire as long as you wish ! ”
Equal bravery was shown by the Indians who were fight-
ing for love of country and freedom. The infuriated
Revolutionaries, fighting every inch of space, made a great
effort near the Idgarh. More and more desperate attacks.
When the English force, trying to capture Idgarh, was
wavering, the Revolutionaries delivered another fierce
attack. The English retired. The Revolutionaries
pursued, vigorously attacking them all the way, up to
their guns and cavalry. Now, at last, the English forces
are leaving the field after abandoning the position which
they held so long ! Bravo, Revolutionaries, bravo ! You
have shown a splendid fight ! If all of you had been as
brave, and as disciplined !—
While the fourth column was being thus foiled, the three
English columns that had entered Delhi waited for a
short time at the Kashmir gate and then rushed forth to
339

THE CONFLAGRATION
attack the town. The three chief commanders, Campbell,
Jones, and Nicholson, taking their followers, fought their
way to the Kabul gate. The guns found in the way were
captured ; on every tower and pillar was placed a British
flag, and the force went fighting right up to the Burn
Bastion. But, from this place onwards, instead of empty
guns, lifeless hillocks, and vacant fields, they encountered
the fierce war-cry of the Revolutionary force. The Revo-
lutionaries opened a terrible fire ; fierce bloodshed and
death marked every foot of ground they covered ; the
English army which had advanced far in the heat of
victory was forced back beaten. When thus the English
force received this check, Nicholson dashed forth like a
tiger. His motto was nothing is impossible, in this world,
to a brave warrior. When the irritated Nicholson left
the Water Bastion and again entered the Gully—the
bloody battle was renewed. Whichever Englishman
stepped forth was shot down by the Revolutionaries fight-
ing for freedom. From the roofs, from the windows, from
the porches, from the verandahs, this obstinate, freedom-
loving Gully began to pour forth fire and forced even
Nicholson to retire. The brave Major Jacob also fell in
it ! Now, rush forth, Nicholson ! All other English
officers, except you, have been killed by this Gully ! Oh!
freedom-loving Gully ! Nicholson himself is coming
forth—now is the true test ! The fight began in a dead
encounter. Suddenly, there was a cry in the English
army, as if it had been struck by lightning descending
upon it ! Nicholson, Nicholson ! Where is he now ?
Some brave Sepoy had singled him out and hit him—and
he was rolling on the ground ! There was an uproar
— “ Hato ! ” (Retire!) in the English army, and “Chato”
(Cut down!)” in the Sepoy ranks ! The dreadful Gully!
Every inch of her length was the grave of an Englishman!
Hardly did this column of the English army retreat
through this heroic Gully and reach the Kashmir gate,
when the bugle also sounded for the retreat of the column
340

DELHI FALLS
which had gone towards Jumma Musjid. Though there
was no resistance till the mosque was reached, as soon as
the troop came there, a terrible war-cry was heard and,
in the subsequent fight, Campbell was wounded.
Thus ended the first day of the assault on Delhi. Of the
four columns, three had their chief commanders wounded;
sixty-six officers, and eleven hundred and four soldiers
were killed ! Reckoning in the evening the advantages
gained at this expense, the English commander, Wilson,
found that he had taken only one-forth of Delhi! Fear,
despair, and anxiety maddened general Wilson and he said
that an immediate retreat must be ordered. “The town is
yet unconquered; and thousands of the Revolutionaries are
proudly inviting those that remain alive to come forth
for battle. Shall we now sacrifice everyone of us or suffer
the ignominy of defeat ? We must now retreat ! ”—such
was the opinion of Wilson.
When the dying Nicholson who had been taken to the
hospital heard the news, that hero said, “ Retreat ! By
God’s grace, I have still strength enough in me to shoot
the retreating Wilson ! ” All the living Englishmen
agreed with this dying hero and, on the night of the 14th
of September, the English troops stuck to the posts they
had conquered.
The English council of war overruled General Wilson’s
opinion as to retreat. The movements in the Revolu-
tionary camp itself that night showed that the force of
the Revolutionaries was spent. One party declared that
it was better to give up Delhi and renew the war in the
province, and the other insisted that Delhi should never
be surrendered, even if everyone of them was killed. In
the English camp, whatever the differences of opinion,
the majority was always respected and the differences
were merged in the unanimity of action. This virtue,
however, was conspicuous in the confused Sepoy ranks
341

THE CONFLAGRATION
by its absence, and the two parties, instead of uniting to
form a common plan of action, went each their own way.
Some Sepoys left Delhi, but others resolved not to go
back an inch till the end, stuck to Delhi, and came out
on the battle-field ready. This party fought for Delhi
from the 15th to the 24th of September! And that
too, with such determination, such bravery, and such
steadiness that, when an English detachment would enter
a mosque or a palace, a guardsman would stand with his
hand on the trigger, would aim calmly when the English
came near, and would fire the last shot for his country
and religion when they approached him. After doing
this last service for his motherland, he would court death!
When three fourths of Delhi fell into the hands of the
English, the commander-in-chief at Delhi, Bakht Khan,
went to the Emperor and said, “Delhi has now slipped
out of our hands. But this does not mean that all chances
of victory are over. Even now, the plan of harassing the
enemy in the open country rather than protecting an
enclosed place is certain to bring victory in the end. I
am going to fight my way out of Delhi, after selecting
the warriors who are ready to keep their swords drawn
till the end in this war of liberty. I think it more advis-
able to go out fighting rather than surrender to the enemy.
At this time, you should also come with us, and under
your banner, we will fight to the last for Swaraj.” If
this old Mogul had even a hundredth part of the valour
of Babar, Humayun, or Akbar in him, he would have
accepted this valiant invitation and would have marched
out of Delhi with the valiant Bakht Khan. If he was
to die, he should have died like a king. But despairing on
account of old age, slow on account of long enjoyment
of luxuries, and frightened by defeat, the Emperor Baha-
dur Shah maintained an undetermined and vacillating
attitude till the end. On the last day, he hid himself in
Humayun’s grave, and, after refusing Bakht Khan’s invi-
tation, began to decide upon surrender to the English,
342

DELHI FALLS
according to the advice of Ilahi Baksh Mirza. This
Ilahi Baksh was a first-class traitor ! He gave the news
to the English, who immediately sent thither Captain
Hodson. After a promise to spare his life, the Emperor
surrendered, was brought to the palace by the English,
and imprisoned. Just then, the traitorous dogs, Ilahi
Baksh and Munshi Rajab Ali, came up running and said,
“ But the princes are yet hiding in Humayun’s tomb ! ”
Again, Hodson ran ; the princes surrendered to him, were
put in a carriage, and taken to the town. As soon as the
cavalcade entered the town, Hodson ran up to the carriage
and shouted out that those who killed English women
and children deserved death alone. So saying, Hodson
turned towards the surrendered princes, who were dragg-
ed out of the carriage, and robbed of all valuables on the
person, and helpless stood before him. Three shots put
an end to the lives of the three princes ! Hodson cut
away this last sprout of Timur’s family ! But his revenge
was not satisfied by simply shooting dead these illustrious
princes. It is only savages that wreak a vengeance till
death. If Hodson had stopped there, where would be
the humanity of civilised English vindictiveness ? There-
fore, the dead bodies of the princes were thrown right
before the police station. When the vultures had fed on
them for some time, the rotting bodies were dragged and
thrown into the river. Oh Time ! what changes are
wrought by thee ! That there should be no one to give
the last burial rites to the descendants of the great Em-
peror Akbar ! And now, the Sikhs thought that the
prophecy in their books was fulfilled ! But, in what way?
By what means ? To what end ? For whose benefit ?
Then began terrible looting and a general massacre at
Delhi. After hearing the accounts, Lord Elphinstone
writes to Sir John Lawrence, “ After the siege was over,
the outrages committed by our army are simply heart-
rending. A wholesale vengeance is being taken without
distinction of friend and foe. As regards the looting, we
343

THE CONFLAGRATION
have indeed surpassed Nadir Shah ! ” ⁵ General Outram
was of opinion that Delhi should be burnt !
The English army, both European and Indian, engaged
at the siege of Delhi, was about ten thousand men. Of
those, about four thousand fell on the field, killed and
wounded. Such a terrible death-roll is not found even
in a struggle like the Crimean war ! Though it is im-
possible to form a reliable estimate of the losses of the
Revolutionaries from English accounts, they must have
been about five to six thousand.⁶
In this manner this historical town, inspired by the noble
sentiments of Swadharma and Swaraj, fought with a
powerful enemy like the English for a hundred and
thirty-four days and nights. On the whole, the fight was
one befitting a high and exalted principle ! From the
day on which Delhi threw away the Feringhi flag from
her walls and proclaimed the establishment of Swaraj,
from the day on which Delhi smashed the chains of
slavery and established freedom, from the day on which
Delhi first pronounced the formula of unity for the vast
and extended continent of Hindusthan under a national
banner, from that day onward, to the day on which
English swords drank Swadeshi blood in the palace of
Bahadur Shah, this town had done not a few deeds of
noble and unselfish heroism befitting the holy war of
freedom ! Without a leader, without good organisation,
having to fight a well-trained enemy like the English,
and having to oppose Swadeshi swords no less brave,—
why, braver than the Feringhi ones—ready to pronounce
upon their compatriots—in spite of all these disadvant-
ages, the Revolutionaries fought a splendid fight. But
disunion and want of organisation—the result of the lack
5. Life of Lawrence, Vol. II, page 262.
6. Rotton says : “The casualties of the mutineers were often
manifested beyond all due bounds.”—Page 175.
344

DELHI FALLS
of a great leader filled their camp and greatly handicap-
ped them. Despite all these enormous difficulties, the
Sepoys at Delhi fought like real national and religious
martyrs. Their virtues, and even their faults, will be
looked upon with reverence by future generations ! “ The
elephant breaking his tusk, in trying to smash a moun-
tain, is noble !” Throughout all the faults and all the
virtues lurks constantly the fire of the love of Swadharma
and Swaraj and freedom and sacrifice for a noble
principle. And so, both these are living sermons on
moral heroism !
345

CHAPTER V
LUCKNOW
ON the day on which the Revolutionaries were
successful in the battle of Chinhat, the English
power in Oudh came to an end and the revolt
had openly assumed the form of a national
Revolution. The Sepoys, princes, and people began
by establishing a ruler liked by them on the vacant
throne of Lucknow. The anarchy which raged every-
where for the space of a week after the battle of
Chinhat had to be first suppressed before preparations for
war could be made. Therefore, the Revolutionaries set
themselves to the task of administration at Lucknow,
though the week’s interval gave an opportunity to the Eng-
346

LUCKNOW
lish of fortifying their defences. The late Nabob of Luck-
now, Wajid Ali Shah, being a prisoner of the English at
Calcutta, they unanimously elected and placed on the
throne his son, Prince Birjis Kadir. This Birjis Kadar
being a minor, the regency of the kingdom of Oudh was
given in the hands of his mother, Queen Hazrat Mahal.
As in the palace of Delhi, on account of the extreme old
age of Emperor Bahadur Shah, the affairs of state were
looked after by Begum Zinat Mahal in the Emperor's
name, so in the palace at Lucknow, the Nabob being a
minor, the Government depended on his mother, Begum
Hazrat Mahal. This Begum of Oudh, though not quite
another Lakshmi Bai, was undoubtedly a great organiser,
full of love of liberty and the spirit of daring. She had
perfect confidence in an Omrah (nobleman) of the court,
called Mahbub Khan. She appointed various officers to
the judicial, revenue, police, and military departments.
These officers selected were such as were loved and ho-
noured by the representatives of the Sepoys, by Mahbub
Khan and other leading Sirdars, and also by the large
numbers of the people who hurried from all parts of Oudh
to Lucknow to join in the great War of Independence.
Every day, a Durbar was held to discuss political affairs,
and there, the Begum Sahiba exercised authority in the
name of the Nabob. The news that Oudh was free and
that not a trace of English rule remained there was sent
to the Emperor of Delhi, under the Begum's seal, along
with valuable presents. Letters were sent to all the neigh-
bouring Zemindars and vassal Rajas to come to Lucknow
with armed followers. From the appointment of the
various civil officers, from the good order in all the depart-
ments of Government, from the daily Durbars, and other
signs, it was apparent that the revolt had ended and con-
structive government had begun. But, unfortunately, the
Revolutionaries did not show as much zeal in obeying the
officers appointed as they showed in participating in their
appointment. In all Revolutions this common blunder is
committed, and this sows the seeds of destruction of the
347

THE CONFLAGRATION
Revolution in the very beginning. Every Revolution is
started by cutting down the laws of existing authority by
the sword. But when once the habit is formed of mowing
down by the sword the unjust laws of unconstitutional
authority, then in the heat of the moment, the vicious
habit develops of setting at nought all laws at will. The
sword used for destroying wicked and cruel laws tends
to destroy all law. The heroes, who start out for over-
throwing foreign rule, soon get into the habit of over-
throwing all rule. In the excitement of breaking the bonds
of foreign rule, they begin to dislike all bonds, even those
of just and normal rule. And in this way, Revolution
ends in Anarchy, virtue in vice, and what ought to be a
great benefit ends in loss. The destruction of individuals,
of society, and of kingdoms is caused as much by anarchy
as by foreign rule, as much by the absence of any bond
as by the presence of cruel bonds. If any Revolution
forgets this sociological truth, it generally kills itself in
the end. Just as a man who begins to take wine as a
cure for some distemper does not get rid of the habit of
drinking wine even after he is cured ; similarly, the habit
of breaking bonds, in order to remove bad rule, persists
even after its work is done and makes men disorderly and
anarchical. That Revolution which destroys injustice and
oppression is holy. But when a Revolution roots out one
kind of injustice and oppression but plants, at the same
moment, the seeds of another kind, it becomes at once
unholy, and the seeds of destruction accompanying that
sin soon put an end to its life.
Therefore, those who want to take the wine of Revolution
to cure the disease of foreign slavery must be on their
guard not to get addicted to the vicious habit. The mind
must be trained from the beginning to honour one’s own
rule as much as to hate foreign rule. In wiping out foreign
misrule, care must be taken to discourage, by all possible
means, internal disorder. In smiting down foreign rule
and foreign authority, one’s own rule and authority should
348

LUCKNOW
be worshipped as sacred. The moment the foreign power
is destroyed, in order to guard the country from the evils
of anarchy, a constitution liked by the majority of the
people should be at once established and that constitution
should be obeyed with reverence by all. The orders of
all officers thus appointed must be implicitly carried out,
discipline must be observed, individual caprice must give
way to devotion to the principle of the common good and,
if any change in this constitution is thought desirable and
just, it must be attempted only by means of the voice of
the majority. In short, the rule should be Revolution
outside and Constitution within, chaos outside and cosmos
within, sword outside and law within.
These elementary principles of all constitutions so neces-
sary for the success of Revolutions were fairly well ob-
served in the first half of the Rising. Immediately after
the Revolution began, attention was given to organise
administration with all possible speed at Delhi, Lucknow,
Cawnpore, and other cities. In all these big towns, no
impostor set himself up with the desire of individual
aggrandisement. The undoubted hereditary and popular
rulers were set up on the various thrones. These rulers
did not even evince any desire to take advantage of the
Revolution to further their own selfish ends and increase
their power. Nay, more ; written documents are publish-
ed which prove that they were ready to relinquish all
their rights if their persons were in the way of the coun-
try's independence.¹ Thus, in 1857, the first part of con-
structive administration was successfully achieved in a
spirit of adorable nobility. But, in this organisation, the
important and major section being composed of common
sepoys, they began to feel all bonds unbearable when
they had once removed the shackles of foreign rule. And,
at the time of the crisis, all discipline became lax. There-
fore, even those officers, whom they appointed at the first

1. See page 273, above.
   349

THE CONFLAGRATION
impulse of the ideal of Swaraj, they later on insulted, dis-
obeyed, and mocked. And thus, the Revolution tended
to end in anarchy. Under these circumstances, had there
arisen a hero who, by his individual prowess and the might
of his all-conquering sword, could have won the hearts or
awe of those followers who, incapable of being unified by
an abstract ideal, could have still been bound together
by a common hero-worship, the Revolution might have
been crowned with success. But, in the absence of such
a hero on the one side and the inherent tendency of an
uncontrolled Revolution to lapse into anarchy on the other,
there were more rabble than disciplined soldiers in the
army of the kingdom of Oudh. The martyrs, by their
undaunted, unconquered, and unconquerable determina-
tion to do and die, kept the field busy for three years ! In
the camp at Lucknow, the men of the first kind were much
more numerous than those of the second, and the orders
of several officers appointed by Begum Hazrat Mahal
were never strictly obeyed. And the Sepoys became im-
pudent, oppressive, disorderly, and self-willed.
But still some brave heroic spirits who were staying among
them inspired the Sepoys with their bravery, noble ideas,
and natural excellence of spirit. And as these valiant
men insisted, it was resolved to make the first great attack
on the besieged Residency on the 20th of July.
On the morning of the 20th of July, the Revolutionary
artillery which had been very active so long, suddenly
stopped firing. About eight o'clock, the Revolutionary
party laid some mines under the Residency walls and filled
them with dynamite. The mines were blown up and the
Sepoy ranks rushed forth after the explosion. At the
same time, the guns again began a terrible fire on the
English. The Revolutionary army fell upon the English
from different directions—toward the Redan, on the house
of Innes, on the Cawnpore Battery. The part of the
army which attacked the Cawnpore battery made a des-
350

LUCKNOW
perate rush on the English guns. Again and again, they
rushed against the guns. Their heroic leader, fluttering the
flag of Swaraj in his hand, jumped into the ditch and called
upon the others to follow, shouting, “Chalô, Bahadur !
Chalô ! ” (Come, brave men, come!) He crossed the ditch
and began to plant the Revolutionary flag on English
guns ! ² But this brave soldier was soon shot down by
an English bullet. Instead of thousands rushing forth
over his dead body at this time and avenging the death
of the martyr the crowd of camp followers retreated instead
of advancing. But, bravo ! You ladder-men ! You did
not imitate the cowardly camp-followers but rushed forth
like real Sepoys. Plant the ladders in the ditch and mount
up quickly in spite of the fire of the English ! The first
batch has fallen—but let the next one come. But where
are the others who dare risk it ? This is the difference
between the English army and the Revolutionaries ! The
English never allowed the blood of their comrades to be
shed in vain ; if one falls, ten rush forward in his place.
We do not care where those who fled behind will go to ;
but, you heroes, you martyrs, you have reached Heaven !
Those who took the flag of Swaraj in their own hands; in
order that it might not be polluted by the touch of coward-
ly living corpses, those who went up to put that flag on the
enemy’s fire-spitting guns, by their glorious, holy blood
—that flag will be eternally pure and shine with a divine
splendour ! The flag of Swaraj looks its best only in such
wounded and bleeding arms ! One whose wrists are not
bespattered with blood should not touch and pollute the
holy flag of independence !
After this first assault was repulsed, the Revolutionaries
had, daily, small skirmishes with the English. They did
their best in dynamiting the houses in the Residency.
From above, the fire of terrible guns, and from below,
dynamite explosions ! No Englishman was sure when the

2. Gubbins’s Mutinies, page 218.
   351

THE CONFLAGRATION
ground beneath his feet would burst and swallow him.
Acccording to Brigadier Innes's calculation, the Revolu-
tionaries dynamited the Residency thirty-seven times !
The Revolutionary guns were, also, constantly active. The
Sepoys would send splendidly aimed shots against the
English and the English would reply to them. There were
death-dealing fights between bands of scouts which set
out at night to get secret information from the opposite
camps. Often, the secret whisperings of a group of men
either within or without the walls were heard by the other
party and nullified their plans. The Revolutionaries
amused themselves often by aiming a ball exactly at the
English flag and destroying it. And the English, also,
unfailingly hauled up a new one at the Residency as soon
as night fell. At such ghastly jokes, the battlefield of
Lucknow would open her terrible jaws and smile a deathly
smile ! Every night the messengers of the Revolutionaries
would go hiding near a part of the fort occupied by the
Sikhs or other Indians and ask them, " Why do you play
the traitor (Nimak haram) with the nation and thrust
the sword of the Feringhis into the bodies of your own
brethren ? " If any night these questions became persis-
tent, the " loyal " Sikhs, to have some fun, would ask
them to come near in order to converse better and, as soon
as they came, would make an Englishman who had hither-
to kept himself concealed stand up before them ! Seeing
such treachery, the Revolutionaries would return cursing
their baseness. Of all the splendid and untiring shots
among the Revolutionaries, an African eunuch who had
been in the service of the late Nabob spread terror in the
English Residency. He was nicknamed " Othello " by
the English.
About this time, Major Banks who had taken charge of
the office of chief commissioner of Oudh, after the death
of Sir Henry Lawrence, also fell dead by the bullet of a
Revolutionary. This was the second English chief com-
missioner killed during the siege ! But on account of the
352