I
On the first day of July 1910, the steamer s.s, morea convey- ing Savarkar to India started on her historic voyage from London ! Proud like a kite, she held her prey in the clutches. She tossed on. But woe followed the waves. The book of fate was signed and sealed by destiny ! There was some engine trouble and the morea required repairs in the neigh- bourhood of the port of Marseilles. So she anchored at Marseilles on Thursday evening, July 7, 1910. On June 29 the British Government had informed the French Govern- ment that the morea was bound for India with a political prisoner, and requested the French Government to watch the steamer, if she anchored at Marseilles, and to guard against any possible attempt of Savarkar’s rescue by the Indian revolutionaries on the Continent. Mr. Parkar, the C.I.D. officer from London and Mr. Power, Assistant Superintendent of Police from Bombay, were in charge of the illustrious prisoner.
Though tied to a sacrificial post, Savarkar talked freely, during the course of the journey, to the amazement of the passengers. Inwardly he was revolving the idea of escape. He had thrown a measuring eye at the port-holes. The halt at Marseilles put his heart in a flutter. Had his message to the comrades on the Continent reached them through Aiyer ? Would they come to his rescue ? Night was coming on. His expectations now darkened into anxieties. All night long restlessness tortured him and doubts assailed him. Dawn broke. His thoughts now galloped. Mother Ind seemed to whisper to her darling son : “ Flee ! flee ! the time is not
gone ! Oh ! my son ! I would not see your neck in the rope ! Did you forget that my great son Krishna ran away when persecuted by the tyrant Jarasandha ? Don’t you remember
EPIC ESCAPE
71
the historic escape of my Shivaji from Agra ? Wotild you not learn ansrthing from the daring escape of Napolecm from Elba ? Flee ! flee ! your flight will bring to light the heroic endeavours of my sons to shatter my fetters. You are not a mouse to be easily trapped. You are the President of a revolutionary party. Flee, for my sake, flee ! Now or never ! ”
An inspired ray appeared in Savarkar’s eyes. He collected himself. His heart throbbed with the thought of swift escape. His face lit with a fire of decision. Yes, he was a lion, and he would not die the death of a mouse. He resolved to venture. He stood up ! It was now morning. Both the officers in charge were asleep. He asked the guard on watch to take him to the water closet. The guard woke up his companion. Savarkar bit his lips ! Both accompanied him. And Savarkar had to play a ruse. He asked one of the guards to fetch some article left behind. He went. Savarkar entered the water closet and bolted it from within. The guard was rather in- attentive. There was a glass pane fitted in the door of the water closet. This was a special arrangement for watching the man inside.
There was no time to lose. Savarkar’s actions were more rapid than his thoughts. He took off his night gown which he had purposely put on and threv/ it over the glass pane of the water closet. Then in the twinkling of an eye, he jiunped up, squeezed himself out of the porthole at the top of the water closet, and murmiuring ‘ Hail ! thee, Goddess of Liberty ! ’ jumped into the sea. The guard caught sight of him. “ He is off ! ” shouted the guard. There was a din on the steamer. The guards opened fire at the escaping prisoner. Savarkar heard bullets whizzing by. This was the time to put to test his hard-won skill in swimming cind climbing. The glorious son of Hindusthan now dived, now swam through the shower of bullets, reached the steep end of the harbour of Marseilles, and climbed the quay. Once he fell down, like the lizard before Brutus, in his attempt at climbing the quay. The second time he succeeded and ran off. The pursuing marine gendarmes who had jumped after him covild not catch him. He was free, legally, mentally and bodily ! He had scored a triumph, and held the British Government to ridicule. Britannia might be once ruling the waves, but she could not
72 6AVARKAR AND BIS TIMES
rulte the waves that carried Savarkar to the shore of France ; nor could she rule the waves created by Savarkar, which tinned the ship of his Motherland from slavery to Swaraj I
The pursuers were in hot chase. Savarkar ran excitedly for about five hundred yards from the harbour. He saw trams running, policemen on duty. He wanted to hire a cab. But he had no money. His freedom for a coin ! So he asked a policeman on duty in broken French to take him to the nearest Magistrate, but the policeman did not pay attention to him. The pursuers who had now overtaken him all the while crying out “ Thief ! Catch him ! ” greased the palm of the policeman, and with his connivance dra gg ed Savarkar to the steamer. It was clearly a breach of International Law. The British guards had arrested Savarkar on a foreign land !
It was fated that Savarkar’s colleagues, Madame Cama and Aiyer, who had planned his rescue, should be late by a few hours. They were driving post-haste towards the harbour. They reached the scene to hear the crowds gossiping with their eyes and lingers towards the steamer. They must have cursed themselves. All day long the whole of Marseilles was agog ! Crowds flocked towards the harbour. And mortified at the disgrace, the morea set sail early next morning.
The news of Savarkar’s thrilling escape on July 8, 1910, crossed the oceans. India’s cry for freedom filled the skies, and Mother Ind’s heart-rending bewailings .stirred the world. India was discussed for the first time in foreign countries. Hindu manhood glowed in resplendent glory and opened the eyes of foreign institutions which doubted the virility and valoiu: of India. The entire European Press published the Hindu hero’s life as best as it could and compared him with Mazzini, Garibaldi and Kossuth, and stamped him as a mart 3 a’. Daring and devoted nation-builders like Shivaji, Napoleon, Churchill in 1916, De Valera in 1918 and Subhas Bose in 1941 performed miraculous escapes, but Savarkar’s escape was the most heroic and thrilling the world ever witnessed ! It is an epic and unique example of ‘ propaganda by deed.’
Eiuraged at their discomfiture and filled with fear of degradation in service, the officers in chimge, once back on the MOREA with their charge, began to use foul, filthy and violent language about Savarkar. They even threatened him with
^VORLD-FAMOUS TRIALS 73
torture at nightfall ! One of them exclaimed, “ What a breed these Savarkars are ! ” Savarkar rebuked the boiling guards and officer sternly. He had watched one officer keeping a loaded revolver in his trousers just over his head. Sure of that support at hand, Savarkar struck them dumb with these words : “ Look here, you are taking me to the gallows. It is quite natural that I should try my best to escape. If you want to live by the side of your wife and children, take care not to insult or touch me. For I have already set fire to my home and will not fail to vindicate my self-respect and safety by all means. Be then prepared for the eventualities.” The guards understood the gravity of the situation and kept mum ! At Aden the s.s. sasti took charge of morea passengers and post. The guards huddled Savarkar into a tiny cabin, only a space of four feet was allowed to him to stand, move and walk ! Sunlight became a luxury for him. Hand-cuffed and closely tied to each guard by turns on one side, stiffled by excessive heat and crushed by a colossal disappointment on the other, Savarkar had to stand a tide of tense feelings for throwing away life at once ! But he overcame the feelings and survived.
Savarkar’s failure at Marseilles was, however, glorious. A noble failure serves the world no less than a crowning success. And crushing failures have often in them the germs of a glorious future. Our greatest glory, says Goldsmith, consists not in never fcdling, but in rising every time we fall.
n
The s.s. SASTI reached Bombay without any mishap. On July 22, 1910, the prince of Indian revolutionaries was receiv- ed at the Bombay Harbour in a befitting manner. Hand- cuffed, he was marched through rows of drawn swords. A close motor-van transferred him to a closed special train which delivered him to the Nasik Police custody. Few days later, he was brought to the Yeravada Jail. Mr. Joseph Baptista, his counsel, interviewed him on September 13, 1910, at the instance of Madame Cama. Mr. Baptista had already receiv- ed the papers of the case from Mr. Vaughan, Savarkar’s London solicitor.
74 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
Under a Special Tribunal Act a Special Tribunal was appointed to try the case without a jury or a right of appeal. The tribunal was composed of the Chief Justice of Bombay, Sir Basil Scott, Sir N. G. Chandavarkar and Mr. Justice Heaton. The Counsels for the prosecution were an imposing array. Mr. Jardine, the Advocate-General, Bombay, Mr. Weldon, Sri Welinkar and Mr. Nicolson, the Public Prosecutor. The defence consisted of legal luminaries like Mr. Joseph Baptista, Sri Chitre, Sri Govindrao Gadgil and Sri Rangnekar. Three trials were to be heard by the Tribunal. The first trial involved thirty-eight accused including Savarkar, the second involved Savarkar and Gopalrao Patankar, both co-accused in the first and the second trials. In the third, Savarkar was alone ! All were to be tried under eight different charges. Kashinath Ankushkar, Dattatray Joshi, W. R. Kulkami and Chaturbhuj, the cook of the India House with whom Savarkar was alleged to have sent twenty Browning pistols to India, were the approvers.
Savarkar was transferred from the Yeravada Jail to the Dongri Jail in Bombay to stand his trial. The trial opened on September 15, 1910. A Special party of fifty armed police guarded the High Court. The Police Commissioner of Bombay personally supervised the police arrangements in the Court. Only few representatives of newspapers were permitted into the Court. Savarkar was brought to the Court in a closed van under an armed escort. As soon as he stepped into the dock, he heard the sound of clapping ! It was a stark surprise. He looked at the empty galleries and saw vacant benches. He saw nobody there. Who welcomed him then ? They were his co-accused in the dock down below. They gave a spontaneous ovation to their leader of international fame ! A unique reception and homage in the political history of the world by those who stood on the threshold of death to a leader who awaited the same fate ! To the pleasant surprise of his comrades, he recognised after a few moments’ guess his brother, Narayanrao, in the dock, now grown into a fine youth. The trial opened like a great thrilling drama. Savarkar’s thrilling escape at Marseilles had rivetted the attention of the world on the Nasik Conspiracy Trial at Bombay. Hindusthan watched it with mixed feelings of horror and anxiety.
WORLD-FAMOUS TRIALS 75
Silence was proclaimed. The Chief Prosecution Counsel, Mr. Jcirdine, rose and made the opening speech for the prose- cution, and occupied the whole of the first day’s proceedings. When the Court resumed hearing on 26th September, it was argued before the Tribunal that they should stay the proceed- ings and allow Savarkar’s appeal against his arrest at Marseilles to go to the French and British Governments. This objection was overruled. On the 27th and 28th September the Advocate- General continued his speech. After two pro- secution witnesses were examined and cross-examined, the Court asked Savarkar to cross-examine them if he so desired. Thereupon Savarkar rose and stated before the Tribunal that he did not recognise the juri.sdiction of the Indian Govern- ment to try him as he was entitled to the Right of Asylum and therefore to the protection of French Law. He added that he had entirely abandoned himself to the French Nation, the land of Fraternity, Equality and Liberty, and so he would not take any part in the trial. On the same day Savarkar’s counsel Mr. Baptista raised the point that Savarkar’s arrest was illegal. The Court overruled the objec- tion. On October 1, 1910, the provisions of the Extradition Act were fully discussed. When asked by the Court, Savarkar refused to say anything on the point. The Court declared its opinion that Savarkar’s illegal arrest at Marseilles did not affect the powers of the Indian Law Courts to try him. During the course of the trial, the prosecution withdrew the charge against Savarkar that the accused had waged war against His Majesty the King. Thus the second trial ended before its start. During the protracted trial many witnesses for the pro- secution were mangled. About three hundred witnesses were examined and cross-examined. Majority of the accused complained to the Court that they had given their statements before the Magistrate under tortures or for saving their rela- tions from harassment at the hands of the police and the same should not be taken to be true.
After the witnesses came the statements of the accused. When the Chief Justice asked Savarkar to have his say, he stated, “ I am quite innocent of the charges laid against me. I took part in the proceedings of the trial in England where courts are established by democratic rules sanctioned by the
76 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
people. In such courts, one can expect to get justice. There the authority does not rely upon brute force. The condition of In dian Courts of Law is quite the reverse. I am not amenable to the Jurisdiction of Indian Courts of Law. I, therefore, decline to give any statement or bring any evidence for my defence.”
Then followed the arguments of the counsels. The Advocate- General made a long speech which lasted for a week. Though Savarkar’s name was last on the list of the accused, he began with Savarkar ! The defence Counsels took a httle more than a week to complete their addresses. One of the accused, Gangaram Kupchand, read out his own statement in his defence.
Chief of the revolutionary party as he was, Savarkar bore himself with courage and dignity throughout the trial. Dressed in a fine European suit, he glowed with smiles, intelligence and brilliance. He looked like a hero confident of his cause. He had made a sincere appeal to his co-accused to throw as much brunt and responsibility upon him alone as possible and try to mitigate their sufferings, and secure their acquittal. Such a life and death struggle could not embarrass him. On the contrary he helped the defence Counsels by jotting down points for cross-examination. Throughout the trial he cheer- ed up the broken-hearted, and encouraged others. The end was near at last. The accused discussed among themselves about their crowns and crosses. A cross or gallows or trans- portation was considered first class. Lesser sentences were considered second class or pass class according to the period of the sentence, and an acquittal was deemed a failure !
At last came the day of judgment after sixty-eight days of protracted trial. It was Saturday, the 23rd of December 1910. The judges took their seats amid pin-drop silence. After reading the judgment the Chief Justice began to announce sentences and started with Savarkeir. He announced :
“ Vinayak Damodar Savarkar, the sentence of the Court upon you is transportation for life sind forfeiture of all your property.” The sentences on the other accused followed.
The Court struck the leader when he was gagged. The decision was ex parte. The legality of his arrest on French soil did not matter to the Tribunal. That he was before them
WOBLD-FAMOUS TRIALS
77
during the trial was sufficient The fact that he was brought to India on an illegal warrant was not a point of consideration for their just heads. What a glaring strain on law and out- rage on the International Law !
The Special Tribvmal passed judgment on a man whose case was sub judice in the International Court at the Hague ! In a country swayed by imperialism, justice also assumes an imperious face and imperils truth. It is not justice. It is the dark desire for domination. The vulgeirity of the saying, “ Everything is fair in love and war,” is seen in its liideous colour during such great political trials. The party or Govern- ment in power sets lawyers busy not to find truth and give justice, but to find reasons for upholding the predetermined legal answers ! Did not Englishmen try Mary Queen of Scots though they had no power or right to do so ? Even so did they try Savarkar. Mary was not born an English subject, nor was she ever denizated. One more sovereign point. It is the received doctrine that a foreign sovereign is immune from all processes of law. Her death was a pohtical necessity and Mary’s head fell on the scaffold !
Out of the other thirty-seven accused in this famous Nasik Trial, Shankar Vaidya, Vinayak Barve, and Vinaj’ak Fulam- brikar were set at liberty at the commencement of the trial. Vinayak Gaydhani, Ramchandra Kothe, Govind Bapat, Hari Thatte, Trimbak Jog, Shankar Mahajan, Mukund Moghe and Keshav Paranjpe — these eight were acquitted. Keshav Shripad Chandvadkar alias Brahmagiri Buwa was sentenced to transportation for fifteen years. Gopalrao Patankar, Krishnaji Khare, and Trimbakrao Marathe — these three were sentenced to ten years’ rigorous imprisoxunent each ; Damodar Chandratrye, Puriishottam Dandekar, Gopal Dharap, Sakha- ram Gorhe and Vishnu Bhat — ^these five to five years’ each ; Shridhar Shidhaye, Waman Palande, Damodar Paranjpe and Raghimath Bhave — ^these four to four years’ each ; Vishnu Kelkar and Kashinath Tonape — these two to three years’ each ; Purushottam Gokhale, Anant Konakar and Vishwasrao Davre — ^these three to three years’ each ; Vinayak Tikhe, Balwant Barve and Sakharam Kashikar — ^these three to two years’ each; and Vinayak Manohar, Gangaram Rupchand,
78 SAVABKAB AND HlS tIMBS
Narayanrao Savarkar and Raghunath Ambedkar— these four were sentenced to six months’ rigorous imprisonment each.
When the judges rose, the patriot-prisoners sprang up to their feet and shouted “ Hail ! thee, Goddess of Liberty ! ” even on their way to the savage jails. The judges were startled and looked back. The police rushed in. In the dock Savarkar tried to bid good-bye to his brother, but was not allowed to do so. So he waved his hat, and under the escort he walked steadily away from the court with his princely countenance.
The judgment in Savarkar’s trial deals exhaustively with various political and secret activities of the Abhinava Bharat, its inflaming pamphlets, its books, its plans and aims and says : “There is evidence in the shape of certain documents found in the possession of the accused Kashikar, shortly after the arrest of Ganesh Savarkar in 1909, which indicates that the association aimed at some sort of organization founded upon the model of Revolutionary Societies in Russia. The sug- gested methods of preparation for war are the purchase and storing of weapons in neighbouring countries to be used when opportunity should occur ; the opening of many very small but secret factories at some distance from one another for the manufacture of weapons clandestinely in the country seeking independence and the purchase by secret societies of weapons in other countries to be secretly imported in merchantships.”
This was an historically true assessment of the Abhinava Bharat. The Society had storehouses of bombs at Bassein and other places. Bomb factories were also started and were working in the suburbs of Bombay and other places in Maha- rashtra. After describing Savarkar’s various activities the Judges observe ; “ We find the accused guilty of the abetment of waging war by instigation, by the circulation of printed matter inciting to war, the providing of arms and the distribu- tion of instructions for the manufacture of explosives. He is, therefore, guilty of an offence punishable under Section 121-A of the Indian Penal Code. We also find him guilty of conspir- ing with the other accused to overawe, by criminal force or show of criminal force, the Government of India and the Local Government.”
But the tragedy did not stop here ! Not content with one
WOBLO-FAMOUS TBXALS 79
transportation for Savarkar the Indian Government of Lord Hardinge and the Bombay Government of Lord Sydenham instituted a second case against Savarkar, this time charging him with abetment of the murder of Mr. Jackson, the Collector of Nasik ! The Indian Government dreaded his return even after serving a sentence for twenty-five years ! It was mad with vengeance ! It knew that a day for this man was a month for others ! The same Tribunal was to try him. The show was one-sided like the former one. Savarkar maintain- ed his incontrovertible stand even in this trial, refused to stand to their judgment, and prejudice his case at the Inter- national Court. But it mattered little to the Tribtmal.
This trial opened on January 23, 1911. After the Advocate- General’s summing-up, Savarkar was brought from the Dock to the Bar to have his say. Savarkar reiterated his innocence and said that he had no direct or indirect connection with the crime. He pointed out to the Court that the only evidence that came before the Tribunal of his alleged complicity was the pamphlet, Bande Mataram, found with Chengirirao. But that too was not concerned with Jackson’s murder ; because it was clear from the evidence that it was despatched from London after the murder, he added. As for the pistol, which was used in killing Jackson, it was strenuously contended that there was no sufficient proof that Savarkar was the person, who entrusted the twenty Browning pistols to the cook Chatturbhuj with one of which Jackson was killed.
Despite these overwhelming odds, however, on January 30, 1911, the Tribunal sentenced Savarkar to another transporta- tion for life ! Upon this Savarkar rose and declared : “ I am prepared to face ungrudgingly the extreme penalty of your laws, in the belief that it is through sufferings and sacrifice alone that our beloved Motherland can march on to an assured, if not a speedy, triumph ! ” ^
Two transportations ! Unsurpassable, unheard of ! Release after half a century ! A unique record and a landmark in the political history of the world ! It is significant that the judgments of these famous trials have not been reported in the law reports !
Was Savarkar shocked at the savage sentences passed upon ^Chitra Gupta, Life of Barrister Savarkar, p. 117.
80 SAVARKAB AND HIS TIMES
him ? Not in the least. He had entered the sacrificial conflagration with iron will and divine devotion. Nothing conquered his invincible spirit, for nature had given him the stoutest heart of his age that could not be crushed by adversity or peril. He fell. He fell for a cause for which Nanasahib died, Tatya Tope fell and the glorious Maha Rani Laxmibai gave her life on the battle-field. The punishment inflicted upon Savarkar was titanic, but his indomitable spirit was an iceberg. He was aged twenty-seven years, eight months and three days when Government laid him in his veritable grave !
The brave son of Hindusthan gave a message to the Indian youths ! The youths, who were acquitted in the first trial, brought a burning message in the following poetic lines from their leader ;
First Instalment
“ Pleased be Thou, Mother ! to acknowledge this little Seirvice of Thy children.
Boimdless is our indebtedness to Thee ! Thou chose us to bless and suckle us at Thy breast !
Behold ! We enter the flames of this consecrated Fire to- day. The first instalment of that debt of Love we pay.
And totally a new birth there and then will we immolate ourselves over and over again till the hungry God of Sacrifice be full and crown Thee with glory.
With Shree Krishna for Thy redoubtable Charioteer, and Shree Ram to lead, and thirty crores of soldiers to fight under Thy baimer.
Thy army stops not though we fall !
But pressing on shall utterly rout the forces of Evil and Thy right hand. Oh Mother, shall plant the golden Baimer of Righteousness on the trimnphant tops of the Himalayas.” ^
HI
The Indian Government prosecuted Savarkar post-haste. As a matter of fact and on principle, the Special Tribunal should have stayed the proceedings from September 25, 1910, as Sir Edward Grey, the Foreign Secretary of the British
Savarkar, An Echo from Andamans.
WORLD-FAMOUS TRIALS 81
Government, had signed an agreement with M. Paul Gambon, the Ambassador of the French Republic, on that day and ag reed to refer the Savarkar case to the International Court at the Hague. This, of course, he had done because of popular French clamour for justice to Savarkar and in recognition of the sovereignty of France.
But this agreement was a result of a powerful agitation of the people and the press. The sensational news of Savarkar’s escape first appeared in a few lines in the Paris edition of the Daily Mail of July 11. Savarkar’s colleagues, who had failed in their attempts at rescuing Savarkar at Marseilles, wired from Marseilles the news of the thrilling escape of their leader to the L’Humanite, a Socialist newspaper in Paris, edited by M. Jean Languet, the grandson of Karl Marx. He Hashed the news of Savarkar’s escape on July 12. Pandit Shyamji, Madame Cama and Ranaji lost no time in contacting the great Socialist leader of France, Monsieur Jaures who was also the Mayor of Marseilles and other French influential leaders. M. Jaures took up the cause and voiced the demand for the return of Savarkar to France. UEclaire, he Temps, he Matin and all other national newspapers of France joined the attack and a storm of protest reigned over France against the illegal arrest of Savarkar on their soil. In England Guy A. Aldred, the young editor of the Herald of Revolt, who was released in July 1910, also raised a hue and cry for Savarkar’s release by his incessant appeals, untiring speeches and a chain of articles on behalf of ‘ the Savarkar Release Committee ’ which was established in London in August 1910. Aldred stressed the illegality and immorality of the warrant of the Indian Gov- ernment and appealed to all freedom-loving citizens of the world to demand Savarkar’s release. Embassies all over the world, too, were stirred. Monsieur Pierron, Assistant Ambas- sador of Spain, Monsieur Jambon, Assistant Ambassador of Paraguay, and the Ambassador of Portugal at Calcutta expressed their opinion that the French demand for Savarkar’s return to France was lawful. According to International Law the stuxender of a fugitive must be a national act and not a local act. This point was also hotly discussed in the French Press. In short, “ Savarkar’s extraordinary heroism at Marseilles was applauded by the impartial press of the world,
8
82 SAVARKAR AMO HIS TIMES
His whole career, his patriotic exploits in India and England were recounted at great length everywhere,” ^ and almost all Eiiropean press supported the French Press in its demand for the retvurn of Savarkar to France. In view of these discussions in the world press in general and the blaze of protest in the French press in particular, the French Government at last made a demand for the return of Savarkar to France.
The British Premier, Mr. Asquith, declared on July 29, 1910, in the House of Commons that the French Government had demanded the return of Savarkar. At the outset English statesmen tried to hush up the matter, calling it their home affair. Papers like the London Times opined that inter- national law on the point was not authoritatively settled !
At this juncture Savarkar smuggled a statement of the authentic accoimt of his escape and re-arrest at Marseilles through the Yeravada Jail to his friends in Europe, and gave a fresh impetus to the whole affair. The statement was circulated throughout the world press, and a vigorous demand was again put forward for Savarkar’s return to France. The entire French press dememded with one voice the return of Savarkar to France in vindication of the Right of Asylum. The Socialist Conference of Europe in its Copenhagen Session held in September 1910, demanded Savarkar’s return to France, and as a result of this national and international pres- sure the French Republic had to renew its demand for Savarkar’s restoration in vindication of its sovereignty. And at last the British Government had to yield.
Thereupon England’s Foreign Secretary, Sir Edward Grey, and M. Paul Cambon, the French Ambassador in London, signed a six-articled agreement as related above, and submitted to arbitration the question of Savarkar’s arrest at Marseilles and return to the Republic. Articles 1, 2 and 3 deal with the duty, composition and working of the Arbitra- tion Tribunal. The fourth article defines the place and representation on the Tribunal and the fifth article lays down that the proceedings of the Tribunal would be either in the French or the English language and the decision in the two languages. The sixth article defines the time limit.
The British opinion was not wholly on the side of its
^ Indulal Yajnik, Shyamaji Krishnavarma, p. 289.
WORLO’FAMOUS TRIALS 83
GovernmeLt in this affair. There were some voices of dissent. Sir Henry Cotton, speaking at the residence of B. C. Pal at a small gathering held in honour of the New Year, 1911, saw Savarkar’s portrait in the halL He admired Savarkar’s intellect, courage and patriotism, although he warned the Indian youths not to waste their energy in that way. He then openly appreciated Savarkar’s claim to the Right of Asylum and expressed the hope that the British Government would hand him over to France. There was a huge uproar against Sir Henry Cotton. Some suggested to the British Govern- ment to stop his pension and even revoke his knighthood !
From the first M. Briand, the Prime Minister of France, did not act sincerely in this matter. Under fear of a powerful and threatening Germany M. Briand looked upon England as a friend. Naturally powerful nations like Germany and Russia were dropped out from the panel of the Tribunal and small nations were selected on it. The Hague International Tribunal was composed of M. Beernaert, ex-Prime Minister of Belgium as its President, M. Graham, an ex-Minister of Norway, Mr. Jonkheer Loman, a Member of the Second Chamber of Holland, England’s Earl of Desert and France’s Louis Renault as its members. M. Louis Renault was an eminent jurisconsult, an authority on international law, a permanent Member of the Hague Tribunal and winner of the Nobel Prize in 1907. This world-famous trial opened on February 16, 1911, and though expected to last about a month as stated in article six of the agreement, wound up its work after a few hurried sittings. On February 24, 1911, they gave judgment in favour of the British Government, “admitting that an irregularity was committed in the arrest of Savarkar and in his being handed over to the British Police.’’
The judgment was a shock to freedom-loving minds all over the world. The Morning Post of Elngland, The Post in Germany, the Daily News of England, described this Award of the Hague Tribunal as something that reduced the “ Right of Asylum ’’ and International Law to a farce. Vehemently criticising this gross outrage on International Law, Guy A. Aldred in his editorial in the Herald of Revolt of March 1911, writes : “ Savarkar has been danmed to a life of sojourn in an Indian dtmgeon by the infamy of a man who previously
M SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMIS
betrayed the French proletariat. But for the latter’s agita- tion against the Hindu patriot’s irregxdar arrest at Marseilles on July 8th last — and Briand’s fears of a general strike, — ^the French Premier would never have invited the decision which brought about his resignation three days later. The Hague Award, annulling the Right of Asylum, was only possible because Aristide Briand volimtarily betrayed the sovereignty of France.” This gross violation of the Right of Asylum and the grave injustice perpetrated on Savarkar were bitterly criticised also by the La Soclete Nouvelle published at Mons in Belgium. Its editorial in its issue of March 1912 said : “ England’s infamous empire rests on blood, ferocious repres- sion and officially acknowledged systematic tyranny.” Dora Marsden, editor of The Freewoman, fearlessly attacked the Hague Award and published Aldred’s vigorous article under the title “ The Savarkar infamy.” A German fortnightly published at Zurich, Switzerland, called Der Wanderer editorially supported Aldred’s work in connection with Savarkar’s case. Most of the British, German, American, Italian and the entire French press condemned the Hague judgment.^
The consequences of the Hague decision were enormous and far-reaching. The betrayal by Briand was so grave and ruinous that only three days after the Hague Award he resign- ed rather than face the questions in the Chamber of Deputies. On the day of this Hague decision the Russian Duma passed a biU annulling the right of political asylum ! As a reward for this marvellous blackmail in connection with Savarkar’s case at the Hague, Mr. Eyre Alexander Crowe, an assistant in the Foreign Affairs Office of Britain, was knighted in 1911.
The international issue in the Savarkar case was thus foully settled. But the agitation for the release of Savarkar spon- sored by Aldred and Pandit Shyamji went on imabated till the outbreak of World War I when Aldred was imprisoned for anti-war propaganda and Pandit Shyamji had to shift his headquarters to Geneva. But during that period Pandit Shyamji had spread the agitation all over Europe. It was
1 Guy A. Aldred, editor of The Word, Glasgow, quoted his articles from his Herald of the Revolt and other extracts from different contem^rary newspapers of Europe concerning Savarkar’s Case at the Hague in the special Savarkar issue of The Word in April 1947.
WORLD’FAMOVS TRIALS 85
through the efforts of Pandit Shyamji that Professor F. M. Zandrine, ofiScer of Public Instruction and a leading member of the executive cotincil of the Federation of the Italian press promised Monsieur Pierre Khorat, the biographer of Savarkar, and Pandit Shyamji that the Italian Republican Party and especially the Parliamentary group would agitate for the release of Savarkar and accordingly in October 1912, the Republican Party of Italy resolved in its meeting at Rome to commence the agitation.^
Thus Savarkar’s was the greatest historical trial the world has ever seen. The trial flashed India’s aspirations on the front pages of world press. India’s manhood and valour were indelibly imprinted on the pages of world history. The trial also left an imprint of Savarkar’s personality on the Inter- national Law and stamped on Marseilles the footprints of a champion who heroically strove for the deliverance of a sup- pressed nation. India was discussed for the first time in international politics. Its impact was so great that its right- eous pressure hastened the fall of the Premier of France, M. Briand ! Such was the magnitude, such was the deathless blow that Savarkar struck individually, nationally and inter- nationally upon the British Empire !
In his introduction to Sri Ranade’s biography of Savarkar the late Sri N. C. Kelkar states : “ The British Government boasts of having bestowed on India a seat in the League of Nations after the great war ; but it was already snatched and confirmed for India by Savarkar, when he leapt from the port-hole of the ship into the sea at Marseilles, and standing on the soil of France challenged the nations of the world ‘ Speak out gentlemen, speak out ’ in the name of International Law!”
IV
“ Did you recognise me ? ’The garments are different. I am the same man. This prison dress also satisfies the basic human want namely protection from cold. Providence will- ing, we may meet again. If the affairs of life ever tempt you, think for a while ! If life means giving birth and rearing
^Indulal Yajnik, Shyamaji Krishnavarma, pp. 304*5.
86 SAVARKAB ARB BIS TIMES
young ones, crows and sparrows also do the same in their nests. But if you take a broader view of life, you wiU agree that we have lived like men. We have extinguished the fire in our kitchen so that some day the smoke of gold may come out of thousands of homes.”
It is the great art of life to forget one’s own petty self, serve others and seek their good. He is a Great Man who follows his path with invincible resolution, who resists temptation both from within and from without ; who bears the heavy bmrdens cheerfully and who is cahn in storms and fearless under frowns.
Mark the self-denial and self-control in the afore.said piece of advice. Standing on the threshold of eternity, a young man, who had been struck with a thunderbolt, was heroically consoling his young wife. It was Savarkar, the hero of Indian Independence. Government was kind enough to permit his wife to interview him in the Dongri Jail, Bombay, in the presence of a Jail Officer before he departed for the Andamans. His wife’s grief was indescribable. Her soul was wrung with agony. With the sublime courage of a Sati she saw her rosy life put into a yawning grave. A sad inquiry dwelt in her gaze and wavered on her lip. She had already lost her baby son when her husband was in London. Saintly, heroic, she stood speechless. Crushed with the heavy chains and overflowed with feelings, Savarkar thus interpreted the grandeur and gravity of the fate that had befallen her ! There was no time for righteous sighs or sobs. The time for inter- view ended. While parting Savarkar’s brother-in-law who was also present there entreated him to recite every morning a certain Mantra, and the scene vanished like a dream.
A week or so before this interview Savarkar was informed in the Dongri Jail that the verdict of the International Court at the Hague had gone against him and that the fifty years’ sentence now stood confirmed. He took off his civil dress and gazed at the jail garments and the ticket to be borne on chest, thinking that the dress he was putting on would either leave him in 1960 or his corpse would come out with it. His property was confiscated and even his books and dress were put to auction. His spectacles were returned to him as a favour. Such complete sacrifice in the cause of freedom was made
WORLD-FAMOUS TRIALS 87
hardly by any other man throughout India’s struggle for free- dom. Someone sarcastically murmxured, “The kind Govern- ment will release you in 1960.” With a smile Savarkar replied, “ Death is more kind. If it delivers me earlier ? ” Savarkar laughed consciously, the fool freely.
In order to bring the inhuman life sentence for half-a-cenhiry under the pale of human laws, Savarkar appealed to Govern- ment that the two transportations inflicted upon him should run concurrently. For, a man has but one life. How can he have two life sentences then ? But his application was rejected. The officer who conveyed this decision to him said with mixed feelings of humour and sympathy that the Govern- ment desired him to undergo the sentence for the next life also during this lifetime. Savarkar then exclaimed : “ Then the good thing about this is that the Government has at least rejected the Christian belief in resurrection and accepted the Hindu doctrine of re-birth ! This is not a small gam ! ”
The furnace of tribulations was lit. The first task that was assigned to Savarkar was the chopping of cocoanut shells. He writhed with pain. But his mind took a philosophical turn and interpreted the chopping of the shells as the chopping of the fragments out of the elements of life and twisting them into one whole. “ In its process, the compound of life develops to its full size and again dissolves into many fragments return- ing to the original elements from which it emanates.”
Ordinarily the very idea of the terrific sentence for half-a- century would have crushed even the stoutest heart. But it was Savarkar’s motto that enabled him to bear heroically the colossal shock ! His motto was : “ Don’t be too much hopeful of success. Be always prepared for the worst possible reverses ! For those who are born in an age of despair and darkness must be prepared to face the grim struggle with the possibility of reverses, if they aspire for the dawn of a new era.
To cope with the titanic term of two transportations he thought out an equally august plan. In order to pay the debt of the Motherland and render service to humanity, he made up his mind to compose an epic, write it on the canvas of his mind and dedicate it to the Motherland through his would- be sons, if he was ever allowed to settle according to the jail
88 SAVARRAR AND HXS TIMES
rtiles with his wife on the island, or in any other way. This was the bare minimum that he could do in his hopeless, help- less state. He had no pen, no paper, no light, no lamp.
Savarkar started in right earnest to compose his poetry. The first poem he composed was on Guru Govind Singh, the sire of martyrdom. According to Savarkar Great Men with great success shine like the golden domes of great palaces ; but the foundation that holds the pillars and domes lies buried under the ground. Guru Govind Singh, who fell in a great cause dejected, betrayed and deserted, was more heroic and appealing than any other hero in the eyes of Savarkar who had also met with the Guru’s fate !
Savarkar then composed another poem on the crucified Christ whose divine personage submitted himself to torture and sacrifice and showed considerable physical fortitude in going through the cruel ordeal for his divine mission. Although an advocate of the doctrine of ‘ protection of the good and destruction of the evil-doer,’ he held in high reverence the glorious martyrdom of Jesus Christ.
Savarkar’s heroism had thrilled both the hemispheres with his epic adventure. Evu*opean countries hailed him as a martyr, but he now happened to read the Anglo-Indian papers who stigmatized him as a ‘ rascal ’ ! Did not the predecessors of these pirates similarly describe in London papers Washington in 1780 and Napoleon in 1803 ? ’ But Savarkar took both the remarks in good hiunour. He equated the jeers with the tears, the rascality from the pen of pirates and pedlars with the glory of martyrdom, and found his individual worth unchanged. The man who stands upon his own conscience and character cares not for praise or censm-e. However, Savarkar said to himself that a public servant should be ever prepared both for applause and censure.
From the Dongri Jail Savarkar was shifted to the BycuUa Jail. Savarkar inquired of the sergeant in charge about the name of the jail. Being afraid to pass on the information the sergeant spelt the word Byculla and obliged Savarkar. So strict were the orders governing Savarkar’s movements ! Shortly afterwards, he was transferred to the Thana Jail. Normally warders, havaldars and petty officers cherished in
I Bernard Shaw, Saint Joan (Introduction) .
WORLD-FAMOUS TRIALS 89
their heart of heaiis a very high respect for him. They felt for his colossal ruin. One of the petty oflBcers in the jail taTxntmgly remarked that Savarkar would be definitely set free in the year 1960. Savarkar silenced the twitters of the small fry when he asked him, “ But is the British Rule itself going to last for fifty years more ? ” The petty officer deified the leonine courage of Savarkar and was proud to be his slave. He did Savarkar a good turn. At dead of night he brought the first note of cheer from Narayanrao Savarkar, then a boy of seventeen, serving a sentence of six months in the Thana Jail. Commenting on his dark future Savarkar brushed over the dark canvas of the Andamans and wrote in reply that he hoped he would at least dedicate an epic to the Motherland during the term of his transportation.
The day of Savarkar’s final departure for the Andamans soon dawned. Escorted by a squad of armed guards, batches of convicts on transportation reached the Thana Jail from all comers of the Province. Some frightful, some fearless, some tearful, some helpless, some reckless and some repentant, they were specimens of heartless murderers, meanest brutes, daring cutthroats and criminals of every description. But this strange type of humanity conceived a sort of awe and reverence for Savarkar, the Barrister convict. As a mark of goodness and respect they even went to bed rather early to enable the Barrister Babu to have a soimd sleep. Their attitude was natural. For it is a notable fact that convicts and prisoners have always a high regard for a barrister. They know he is a man who shelters their crimes and sins under the shield of his intelligence or shatters the web of the villainy of those devils !
The march to the Andamans began. With a kurta, a small pot, an iron plate in one hand, blanket and a mattress under one armpit, Savarkar walked with his hand roped to that of a European officer. Seeing the special care taken by the officers of Savarkar, the convicts said with a proud note that the Government feared him ! In spite of the utmost secrecy observed, the news of Savarkar’s departure leaked out and anxious faces were on the lookout in the streets of Thana for
90 SAVARKAB AND BIS TIMES
a glimpse of the world-famous Indian pmtriot. At the Thana station Europeans took their ladies upon their shoulders to enable them to catch a glimpse of the distinguished prisoner ! Savarkar, in handcuffs and irons, was seated in a special compartment and his hand was tied to that of a stout officer. And the train steamed out for Madras.
One officer, travelling in the same train, took a look at Savarkar at every halt. At last, at Madras he came up to Savarkar to bid him adieu. In a moving tone he said : “ Good-bye friend, I hope you will be released in December at the time of the Delhi Durbar.” Savarkar thanked him for his good wishes and said : “ I don’t think so. Our blows on the Government are quite fresh. They will not be forgotten so soon.” “ All the same,” the Officer continued : “ I will never forget this your dignified courage.” It was a wrong impression prevailing among the Britishers that Savarkar was ungentlemanly, insolent and a dangerous man. They imagined that the presence of a Briton infuriated him. Savarkar, however, corrected their wrong notion with his gentle speeches. He said he never hated anybody simply because he was an Englishman or a Mohammedan. He returned smile for smile, thanks for good wishes and scorn for scorn ! !
On reaching Madras Savarkar was taken to a steamer in a small special boat, ■which was well guarded. While in the boat, one officer tried to pump out some information from him concerning the assassination of Mr. Ashe, the Collector of Tinnevelly, Savarkar had come to know about it in the Thana Jail. But the officer wanted him to comment or criticise his statements. So he said : “ In the province of
Madras there are no thoughtless youths and so it is all quiet here.” Savarkar with an implied smile asked him whether he was sure about the statement he made. And the officer understood it all !
On June 27, 1911, Savarkar was lodged in the steamer the B.S. MAHARAJAH. He was put on the lower dark deck in the iron cages meant for the convicts. Would he ever again see his Motherland or die the fate of the Russian exiles in Siberia,
WORLD-FAMOUS TRIALS 91
thought Siivarkar to himself. But his thoughts were inter- rupted. The engine roared. The steamer whistled ! His voyage to the Devil’s Island began. A terrific shock came to him. For his was the fate of a defeated Washington ! Sur- rounded by the shabby and vile, wild and wicked men, fed on loathsome food, lying beside a cask used as water closet, he was overwhelmed by a feeling of nausea. He was stifled and only the philosophical bent of his mind came to his re.scue. It said, “ It is nothing. Food turns into stool and stool into manure and manure into food again. Then the food and stool are in reality not dissimilar.” However, on application, the kind medical officer gave him the advanlage of a ventilation hole to breathe more freely without worsening the malignant ashtma he had contracted in London.
For a while even the invincible mind of Savarkar was over- whelmed with a feeling of despair, sorrow and separation. A human heart after aU ! His mind took flight from the limited ‘ I ’ to the unlimited universe and the elements ! He looked at the endless stretches of seas. He wondered at the fate of man when compared with the infinite vastness of the oceans and the universe. He said to himself : “ Man has been dream- ing of a good future ever since the dawn of the Vedas. And a dream is nothing but a flash of light in the pitchy darkness of the present.” He exclaimed that it would be the greatest day in the history of mankind when the sun would witness the millennium and the real Golden Age where man loved his brother and gave up lust. Absorbed in such exalted thoughts, Savarkar came to the end of the journey.
It was the morning of July 4, 1911. A shimmer of golden sun was shaking through the trees and was giving life and hope to the denizens in the dreaded Indian Bastille, the Andamans ! The steamer had anchored at Port Blair, the capital of the Andamans. The terrific jaws of the jail opened. The steamer was the threshold of life and death. One crossed it, and stepped into the yawning deathland. As they crossed the gate of the jail, the convicts quailed with their blankets overhead and plates in their hands. Savarkar was absorbed in great thoughts while going his way to the jail. With the ambition of a patriot, the vision of a poet and the foresight
92 SAVARKAR AND HIS TIMES
of a prophet, he was engrossed in assessing the importance of the Andamans. Given proper opportunities of develop- ment, he murmured to himself, these islands could be the outposts of Free Hindusthan replacing Singapore which was so by accident. They would be the gateway of India on the East. If a strong naval base were built there, he thought, no enemy could strike at the Eastern coast of India ! And how prophetic ! The islands have become important naval bases during the present decade.