Page:The Life of Lokamanya Tilak.djvu/224

 well given/ I have been writing nothing which I have not written for 28 years ; and the view expressed in my article has been already expressed by some leaders of our party. Taking all these points into consideration, the construction put upon the words of the articles by the Prosecution is unjustifiable. Moreover, in my own interest, and in the interest of the cause I represent I am bound to question the translations, which are com- pletely distorted. It is simply intolerable that conviction for sedition should be based upon such translations. If I succeeded in showing that the wording of these translations is not correct, that in itself is enough to ensure my acquittal. The words on which the Prosecution is likely to rely are found to be distorted images of the original words. Marathi terminology in the discussion of Political subjects not being settled, I have been required to labour under a very great disadvantage, especially as, frequently we have to write on the spur of the moment ; and the translator has made an attempt to translate the Marathi language of 1908 with the aid of a dictionary published full fifty years ago, not realizing that old fortifications cannot stand before new guns. I gave Mr. Joshi this sentence to translate " A despotic Government need not necessarily be tyrannical," and the translator himself found it difficult to express the two shades of meaning in Marathi. The charge is based not upon the original Marathi but upon the translations. Therefore the Prosecution must stand or fall by the correctness or incorrectness of the translations. It is likely to be urged ' take away the Bureaucracy and what hope is left ?' But I submit, the Bureaucracy is not the Government. The Bomb-