পাতা:১৯০৫ সালে বাংলা.pdf/৩৯

[ ২৯ ]

patriotic songs. The hearts of the jailers were touched, for after all they are human. They brought them food which they declined to partake of. The terrors of the law will not indeed daunt us. We have cheerfully submitted to the stroke of the whip. With equal alacrity have we suffered the rigours of imprisonment; and now are gathered together in this hall to declare to the world that those, who have suffered for their devotion to the Swadeshi cause, have not been degraded in our estimation but that on the contrary, their punishments have enhanced the public respect which is felt for them and have won for them a high place in our affectionate regard. It is not indeed possible for us to reverse the decrees of our rulers. We are impotent our voice and our vote count for nothing in the counsels of the Empire. But, in our social and domestic concerns, we are still all powerful. Here we permit no intrusion of any kind on the part of any one. Here, in this domain which is exclusively reserved for us, we say. “Hands off – this is our affair and not yours.” If we cannot reverse the decrees of our rulers, we can, at any rate, guide and control the public mind of Bengal. If we cannot modify the punishments which have