Page:Bal Gangadhar Tilak, his writings and speeches.djvu/21

 the test and glare of suffering, have been the three seals of his career. The first found him one of a small knot of pioneer workers ; it marked him out to be the strong and inflexible leader of a strong and sturdy people. The second found him already the inspiring power of a great reawakening of the Maraths spirit ; it left him an uncrowned king in the Decern and gave him that high reputation through out India, which was the foundation-stone of his present commanding influence. The last found him the leader of an All-India party, the foremost exponent and head of a thorough-going Nationalism: it sent him back to be one of the two or three foremcet men of India adored and followed by the whole nation. He now stands in the last period of his life- long toil for his country. It is one in which for the first time some ray of immediate hope and near success shines upon a cause which at one time seemed destined to a long frustration and fulfilment only perhaps after a century of labour, struggle and suffering. The qualities which have supported him and given him his hard-earned success, have been com- paratively rare in Indian politics. The first is his entirely representative character as a born leader for the sub-nation to whioh he belongs. India is a unity full of diversities and it’s strength as well as its weakness is rooted in those diversities the vigour of its national life can exist only by the vigour of its regional life. Therefore in politics as in everything