The peace terms proposed by the prisoners can be briefly
summarized. They declared that the right of India to secede from the British Empire must be recognized ; that India must have a complete National Government, responsible to the people and controlling the defence forces as well as finance ; and that this Government must have the right to refer to an independent tribunal all British claims which seemed to the Nationalist leaders unjust, including the British public debt. They went on to say that if these terms were accepted civil disobedience, as such, would be called off, but that the picketing of foreign cloth and liquor shops would continue and that the illicit manu- facture of .salt would also continue, although there would be no more organized raids on salt depots. Finally, they demanded that political prisoners not found guilty of violence should be released and their fines refunded ; that this provision should be applicable to the non-co-operation period 1920-1921 ; that all special ordinances should be repealed ; and that the composition of the Round Table Conference should not be decided upon until all these demands—described as " preliminaries "—were satisfied.
