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

CHAPTER VIII
Amnesty and political prisoners
The Jail Commission had left the Andamans. There was no doubt in my mind that
the members of the Commission were considerably impressed by the statement I had
submitted, and the discussion I had with them. And I have reason to believe that they did
not suggest my release because, though I had plainly put it to them that if the new
reforms proved a success the revolutionaries would follow the path of peace, I had
introduced many if's and but's to qualify that general proposition, and they were angered
by them.
All the same, I had the deep satisfaction of realising that I had done all that I
could for the well-being of thousands of my fellow-prisoners and the Government had no
rational explanation to offer for my detention in that prison.
While the Jail Commission was engaged in its work in this prison and afterwards,
a great movement had been started in India for the release of political prisoners in the
country and outside. It made the release a great national issue. The 'National Union' of
Bombay had submitted to the Government of India a monster petition signed by 70,000
persons, demanding their release. I was always insisting on the need of such a petition to
bring home to the Government the keenness of public opinion on this vital matter. It is
clear to the reader from what I have written about it in the foregoing pages as also from
the extracts I have quoted in them from the annual letter I had sent to my brother in India.
Our leaders in Bombay and Maharashtra by their strenuous efforts had at last fulfilled
that desire. The Government had always maintained that politicals like us had absolutely
no following, much less any sympathy from other parties in the country; that the country
was indifferent to our fate. They went further and asserted that the mass of people
regarded us as wicked and self-centred revolutionaries, no better than other criminals in
the country. The representation made by the 'National Union' on behalf of 70,000
signatories to it, was a conclusive answer to the position the Government had taken. It
had a great moral effect in the country, as a vindication of the opinion that the people
regarded the revolutionaries as good patriots as those who differed from them in their
methods of work, and in their approach to the great national issue. It showed further that
the people were full of gratitude to them for their daring and sacrifice in the public cause.
The representation was bound to create a great moral force so much needed to persuade
the Government to do justice by us. I had said as much to my brother in his visit to me in
the Andamans. The 'National Union' of Bombay had rendered a great service to the
country by preparing the petition and taking as many as 70,000 signatures upon it,
covering in its activity a wide area from Bombay to a far off village like Bhagur, within
the period of a fortnight, an activity in which ladies took such a great part in distributing
leaflets and collecting signatures from door to door. It may be rightly described as a