Activate Javascript or update your browser for the full Digital Library experience.
Next Page
OCR
-x‘‘'--.
at’
"E
All communications should be addressed to
‘Monthly Organ of Indian Independence.
GENEVA, January et February 1914.
‘ ,Madame CAMA, 25, Rue de Ponthieu, Champs Elysees, Paris (France).
,,Therefore, 0 Ananda, be‘ye lamps unto yourselves.
Be ye guides unto yourselves. Betake yourselves to no
external refuge. Work out your liberation with diligence.’
(aautama Buddha).
Nos. 5“ et 6.
This journal is supported by
voluntary contributions. There is no fixed subscription.
;l913. " A Retrospect:
We propose in this article to review the events of the year 1913
"in so far as‘they throw light on the history of our country in
is
general and on our’ Revolutionary movement in particular.
always useful once in a twelve month at least to look back upon
. our past work and satisfy ourselves as to whether we are travelling
in the right direction and at the‘ requisite pace, so that we may
correct the direction, or accelerate the pace of our march in the
future, in ‘case the direction has been wrong or the pace slow.
Thoughanot an event in the strick sense of the term and though
one of the last, we shall-begin this review with our congratulations
, to Deshlandlu Rabindranath Tagore for the public recognition of
his great achievements in poetry by the trustees of the Nobel
prize. He was great as a poet, before he was given the prize -
- his’ poems were passionately loved by the people of his country
and sung on every occasion of joy and sorrow long before he
was recognised by the Nobel trustees. We are not among those
that will not recognise merit in our own countrymen till they
receive the stamp of western recognition or among those that
dance with ]oy merely because Englishmen or Europeans as such
7 have admired the performances in the intellectual field of one from
Hindoostan. But culture is not territorial or racial, and when a
body of cultured men as those composing the trustees of the Nobel
‘Prize ,, have ‘decided to award it for literature to‘ Rabindranath, we
are glad that our countryman has received a wide recognitionthan
, the limit of our own country. After the hearty appreciation of our
V political theories! The Bande
V’ him long ago for the weakness of his political doctrine.
great countryman’s work in the field of literature and song, we
think it is necessary to study Rabindranath for his poetry and cul-'
ture, for the nobleness of many of his lifeideals and the sweetness
of his language; but do not let your admiration for him as a poet
and at man of letters carry 'ou to the lenght of accepting his
ataram of Calcutta has reprimanded
< Theinhuman and the barbarous method of the British Govern-
V yiment had latterly made him cautions when he thought It necessary
’,to dilute his ideal of an independant lndia to some extent. But go
i to his earlier patriotic pieces for inspiration and especially to these two:
“If nobody responds to your call, then follow the path all alone;
if every one is afraid, and nobody wants to speak toryou, then you
unfortunate, speak to yourself the storyof your sorrow. e
" “ll while travelling in the,wilderness, every body deserts you,
i
1
and turns against you, mind them not, but trample the thorns and
bathe your feet with your own blood and go all by yourself.”
7
‘If again in the stormy night you do not find a single soul‘to"'
hold the light for you, and they all close the doors against you, be
not faint hearted, forlorn patriot, but take a rib out of your side,
and light it with the hre of lightning and then, follow the Gleam,‘
follow the Gleam." .
“To thee, my motherland, ldedicate mybody, for theelconsecrate
my life! For thee my eyes will weep,and in thy praise my musewill sing!
“Though my arms are helpless and powerless, still they will do
the deeds that can serve thy Cause, and though my sword is rusty
with disgrace, still it, shall sever the chains of thy bondage, sweet
mother of mine.” .
The year for the purpose of this Review starts not from the 1st.
of january l9l3; but 10 days earlier. For the enemy intended to
begin a new page in the administration of our country on the
22nd of December 1912. They wanted to ‘appeal to the imagina-
tion" while trampling on the rights of our countrymen by directing
the Viceroy, after a lot'of conteinptible hesitation, to make a
public entry into the ancient capital of Hindoosthan. V
If on that 22nd of December, the British Government is once
auspiciously installed in Delhi, the capital of ludhishthirand Prithwi
and Aurangujeb, what a tremendous impetus will be given to the
loyalty of the Indians and what a tremendous deathblow will be
given to the Revolutionary propaganda carried on by the handful
of irreconcileablesl So thought the Firinghi and on the 22nd of
December 1912 was made‘to start the big unwieldy procession of
the viceroy and his sycophants and underlings that was to inau-i
rate the golden era of silent loyalty and quiet submission. But
0d and a handful of determined Revolutionalists had ordained
otherwise. The procession was just passing the historical chandni
chowk when a thunderous explosion was heard and everything
was confusion. -A bomb had been thrown by some revolutionary
at the viceroy and it was so well aimed that he received twenty
wounds from the splinters while the umbrellaholder, andvanlndian
aidede-camp were killed. All the men assembled cried with one voice,
‘Shabash mara” - well thrown! The enemy wanted to put on
as good a face aslpossible. They suppressed all reference in the
papers to this real expression of Hindusthan’s mind. They induced
the sycophant princes and other lickspittres to hold meetings to
express s mpathy for the viceroy, admiration for the pretended
bravery 0 his wife, and indignation at the “outrage.” The viceroy
w
News-1