পাতা:১৯০৫ সালে বাংলা.pdf/৪০

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been inflicted, we can, at any rate, neutralize their effect upon public opinion. If the object of punishment be to deter by degrading, we say that those who have suffered in the Swadeshi cause shall not be degraded. If the object of punishment be to deter by the infliction of pain, we say that pain cheerfully borne is no deterrent, and pain is cheerfully borne when the plaudits of the whole community and the mandate of an approving conscience follow the infliction. It has been asked whether it is constitutional to hold a demonstration such as this, and if constitutional, whether it is wise and expedient? I venture to answer both these questions in the affirmative. The authorities of the State hold their powers as a trust for the public good. The public are their masters and they are truly public servants—not in a figurative, but in a higher and literal, sense. The public have therefore every right to sit in judgement on their conduct. They do so every day in connection with executive orders. The same principle applies to judicial decisions. Our Anglo-Indian fellow-citizens have set an excellent example to us in this respect. You know what they do when they believe that any of their community has been wrongly punished by a court of law. They