मेरा आजीवन कारावास / माझी जन्मठेप (स्वातंत्र्यवीर सावरकर - काले पानी का ऐतिहासिक संस्मरण)

wise, you would not have ventured that remark. Supposing I carry on as before, can you
not put me back in the jail again? Will you keep a convict for ever in jail for fear that if
he is discharged, he will begin his old game again? It is fair that you release me in
pursuance of your own regulations. There has not been a single complaint against me
during the last five years. Those who had tried several times to break away from the
prison have not been kept in the Silver Jail for more than one year. I would abide by
every condition you lay down for me even if you make me free in India, instead of
transferring me from this prison to any other in India. If you forbid me from entering
into politics, I shall do social and literary work in India. I shall try to serve mankind in
many other ways. And if I break any condition that you may impose upon me you are
free to send me back to this prison on transportation for life. Your law is so
comprehensive and your power is so all-embracing."
Member: "Not so, for so long as you evade the law, the law cannot cover you on
the charge of breaking it. You may not be caught and proceded against for high
treason. But that will not mean that you have not committed it."
I:—"But then, you cannot also say positively that I have committed it." So long as
you don't catch a thief in the very act, or you have no ground to suspect him of theft, you
cannot arrest him for theft. And the same rule applies to a case of treason. I have several
times forwarded my opinions to the Governor General in Council. The constitutional
reforms will enable me to do some constructive work for the country. And I would try
to,do my work in a constitutional manner. If the reforms prove fruitful that way, and clear
the path to the goal all have in view, a political revolutionary like myself will prefer that
path to bloodshed and unnecessary murder. Surely he is not so tired of his life as to risk it
in that way. We followed that dangerous course in utter desperation and not because we
were in love with it. And if you don't take me at my word, then I would give you in
writing that I will take no part in politics for a stipulated period. Many of my friends will
bind themselves down in writing like me. Let us be made free even with that restriction
upon us. For we have much else to do in the service of our country in the field of
literature and social reform. Why do you prevent us from doing it? Why do you keep so
many useful, honest, brave and self-sacrificing persons behind the prison-bars and its
stone walls? You have let off the Irish Sin-feiners ten times. They broke your conditions
ten times and yet you have made them free on the same conditions the eleventh time.
Why not trust us then at least once? Why not give us a chance?"
In this strain, the conversation went on for one hour and a half. I narrated to them
the whole story of my experience in this prison, much of which I have already woven in
this narrative.
I also covered the whole ground of Criminal Law and Penology. I traced the
whole system of prison administration from the Borstal system in England to the latest
experiment in America and on the continent of Europe. We had a long discussion on it.