Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/183

 Justice Davar in spite of the fact that Mr. Tilak's attorneys Messrs. Raghavayya Bhimji and Nagindas had specified in a number of paras the Judge's misdirection to the Jury. The Government were more considerate and they commuted transportation with simple imprisonment and remitted the fine of one thousand Rupees. An independent appeal to the Privy Council also proved useless.

Mr. Tilak's incarceration had moved however the people to the very heart. From all parts of India and from all political parties of the country protests arose in very very large numbers. Even the illiterate masses that could rarely realise the gifts or the genius of Mr. Tilak were greatly affected. The mill hands in Bombay actually struck work and showed their resentment in their own perfectly practical manner. In fact Mr. Tilak's incarceration in 1908 was the first occasion on which the whole of India, in a sense, rose to a man and demanded explanation of a high-handed action of the bureaucracy. It may be noted there were the seeds of a re-approachment again between the several sections of Indian political thought though the fruition of it had to wait for a number of years till 1915.