Page:Heroes of the hour- Mahatma Gandhi, Tilak Maharaj, Sir Subramanya Iyer.djvu/148

 weapon could there be in the armoury of an emasculated nation than the memory of such a great one to chase away the oppressive consciousness of incapacity for real life? Though Mr. Tilak or his followers never for a moment dreamt that sinister meanings would be read into the celebration of a feast, which merely roused national consciousness, yet it was exactly that which happened. The authorities smelt sedition in a report of the proceedings that appeared in the Kesari and forthwith connected it in their own minds with an unfortunate incident which unhappily occurred about the same time. However much educated men like Mr. Tilak restrained people from thinking ill of the sanitary measures the Government was taking against the spread of plague, during times twenty years ago when ignorance was thicker in the country, men were not prepared to confide in what the English-educated said about sanitation and matters like that. It happened therefore that certain strict measures adopted, gave rise to a ferment in the superstitious mind of the populace and led ultimately to the murder of Mr. Rand and Ayerest. Even Sir Valentine Chirol admits to this extent, that Mr. Tilak could