Pt.III ]
 

The Fight in Delhi
 

[ Ch.I
 

CHAPTER I

THE FIGHT IN DELHI
 

After declaring her Independence on the 11*^ of May, the
city of Delhi had been busy in organising the wild storm that
such a bold step had raised into a systematised revolution.
By restoring the Emperor of Delhi to the ancient throne of
the Moguls, the citizens of Delhi had already created a nucleus
mighty enough, by the very prestige of its name, to sustain
the struggle of a people's liberation. But this restoration of
the old Mogul was a restoration, neither to the old power nor
to the old prestige, nor to the old traditions. Though the
raising of the old Bahadur Shah to the Emperorship of Hindu¬
sthan was, in a narrower sense, a restoration to him of his
ancient throne, still in a wider and truer sense, it was no
restoration at all. For, the Mogul dynasty of old was not
chosen by the people of the land. It was thrust upon India
by sheer force, dignified by the name of conquest, and upheld
by a powerful pack of alien adventurers and native self-seekers.
It was not this throne that was restored to Bahadur Shah to¬
day. No, that would have been impossible; for, such thrones
are conquered and not received. That would have been suicidal;
for, then, it would have been in vain that the blood of hun¬
dreds of Hindu martyrs had been shed in the three or four
centuries preceding. Ever since the rising power of Islam left its
native wilds of Arabisthan and went conquering East and West,
irresistible and unchallenged, country after country and people
after people had been made to prostrate in submission to this
martial  voice of God.    But the unopposed wave was opposed,

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